KUCHING: The police will be going all out to combat property crimes as cases of break-ins and thefts made up three quarter of the state’s overall crime index last year.Sarawak Commissioner of Police Datuk Mohmad Salleh revealed yesterday that property crime contributed to 78.76 per cent or 10,962 cases of the total 13,919 reported criminal cases in 2009.
“Despite a drop of 4.36 per cent in the number of cases reported in 2009, there was a significant increase in housebreakings, motorcycle thefts and general theft cases which require our urgent attention this year,” he said.
He said this at the police monthly parade, held at the state police headquarters here.
Mohmad said the busts of seven housebreaking gangs under Ops Pintu, 16 vehicle theft gangs under Ops Lejang, and three snatch-theft gangs under Ops Rentap, were major successes achieved by the force last year.
According to him, the busts had contributed to the 49.07 percent solving rate of cases.
However, with the police having to achieve a target of reducing street crime by 20 per cent and overall crime index by five per cent under the National Key Results Area (NKRA) and National Key Performance Indicator (NKPI) by the end of the year, the police commissioner called on his men to display more professionalism, commitment and dedication in their respective roles so that their objectives for 2010 can be met.
He said one of the strategies to focus on in their effort to meet the target under the NKRA and NKPI is to incorporate community policing with conventional policing as a way to strengthen relationships and enhance cooperation between the police and the public.
The community policing programme will be based on a ‘stop-and-talk’ concept, whereby police personnel will spend time interacting with local communities, and will involve the Mobile Patrol Vehicle (MPV) unit, beat patrol and traffic unit personnel.
During the monthly parade, Mohmad also presented stripes to 20 of 48 police officers, who were all recently promoted from Chief Inspector to Assistant Superintendant (ASP).
Management Department head Datuk Ahmad Sofian Mohd Yassin, CID head SAC II Huzir Mohamed, and other senior state police officers were among those present yesterday.