A FURTHER 12 per cent drop in the state’s crime rate for the first half of this year – following a 15 per cent reduction over the 2010-2011 period — should be welcome news.
According to the crime index, 5,043 cases were reported between January and June this year against 5,702 for the same period in 2011 – a decrease of 659 cases.
Police commissioner Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said while the statistics were encouraging, there was still room for improvement, pointing out that crime prevention could be taken up a few more notches with close cooperation from all parties concerned as well as police omnipresence at hotspots.
The rank and file should take the cue from the CP by doubling their crime-busting efforts to achieve the ultimate target of pushing the state’s crime rate further down a peg — from the second lowest to the lowest in the country.
While reduced crime rates are always reassuring, there is no denying that alarm bells are ringing loudly over the rampancy of a most invasive crime in the state — house-breaking.
The frequent occurrences of this despicable theft are not only giving people sleepless nights but also plenty of daytime angst.
In the past, house-breaking was committed mostly under the cover of night, rarely in broad daylight. Nowadays, the perpetrators can strike any time – day or night – and anywhere.
Earlier this week, thieves broke into a house at Mile 7, Kuching. And fortunately for the owner, his neighbours, disturbed by the noise next door, went out to check and their courageous intervention sent the thieves fleeing empty-handed. The gate and front door locks of the house were later found to be broken while a knife was recovered in the compound.
Another break-in left a hawker poorer by a few thousand ringgit. After closing his business for the day around midnight at the Taman Hui Sing hawker centre, the victim arrived home to find his gate and front door locks cut open and the rooms in the house ransacked. Properties, including a gold necklace, a laptop, a digital camera, a handphone charger, three passports and RM2,000, were taken.
Another family lost more than RM60,000 in cash and other belongings when their house at Jalan Song was burglarised. The houseowner said he was informed by police other break-ins had occurred in neighbouring
Tabuan Laru and Stutong the same day.
He also told of complaints by his neighbours that a group of youths would hang around a nearby park every weekend, drinking alcohol and making a lot noise till the next morning.
In Sibu at midweek, a company manager lost RM70,000 in a forced entry. His neighbour called him after noticing that the back door of his house was wide open. Among the items taken were laptops, branded pens, RM10,000 and jewellery.
At Lada Road the same day, another house was broken into with the loss of properties amounting to RM50,000. The owner, a 28-year-old woman, got home about 10 pm to find the house in a mess. Among the missing items were two branded watches, Singapore currency, two handphones, a laptop computer and jewellery.
Nowadays, house-breakers not only steal but also make off with the loot in the owner’s car.
A businessman from Batu Kawa, Kuching, was one such victim. Thieves broke into his house and, to add insult to injury, made their escape in his car. The businessman later located the car at a traffic light but it was a total wreck. Whoever was at the wheel apparently crashed the vehicle into a tree.
In house-breaking cases, victims usually have no way of knowing the progress or outcome of the investigation. After making a police report, all they can do is hope for the best. Perhaps, for this reason, most victims consider making a report a waste of time.
House-breakers are now becoming more brazen with their modus operandi, perhaps emboldened by the low solving rate of the crime. As a counter-measure, intensified police patrols are in order.
Crimes committed must be accounted for and the perpetrators put behind bars. Only in this way will the full force of the law be brought to bear on criminal elements and public confidence in law enforcement restored and enhanced.