Sibu police chief aims to slash street crimes by 20 pct

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SIBU: The New Year resolution of Sibu police chief ACP Shafie Ismail is that he and his officers will reduce the street crimes in Sibu by 20 per cent or more.Speaking to The Borneo Post yesterday, he said he was displeased with the major crimes last year.

Although it was still at a manageable level, he said it had hiked by 89 cases or 16.6 per cent.

“The crime rate of the town has in fact gone down by 1,109 cases or 10.67 per cent. It is sad that it has been spoilt by these. We must continue to improve the situation this year.”

He said the street crimes included mainly thefts by snatching and the various categories of robberies.

He said he and his officers would be committed in various strategies in retaliation of the situation.

He said major crimes were those of robberies, murders, rapes, causing grievous hurt, criminal intimidation, extortion and others.

Shafie called on the public not to be alarmed by the figures.

He said the violent crimes were not all committed by notorious criminals.

“For instance, when a husband threatens his wife, it is classified as a major crime.”

As they moved on this year, he hoped public members would be with them.

“We shall also use the Emergency Ordinance to stamp out major crimes. We shall kick out syndicate members controlling rubber estates, the prostitution ring leaders, the gangsters, Ah Longs and organisers of illegal gambling and cock fighting.”

Shafie said they had been successful in their Ops Cantas in the past two years when they kicked out numerous gangsters.

Last year, he said, they kicked out another 10.

“We shall continue to act tough.”