SIBU: Sarawak is not among the top four crime areas in Malaysia but Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar is not slackening in the fight against crime in Sarawak.
“It does not mean Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) can neglect its efforts to bring down the number of crimes in Sarawak,” Ismail said at a meet-the-people session at MUC Hall in Kampung Bandong here yesterday.
Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Johor and Pulau Pinang are the crime hot spots in the country, he said.
Their responsibility covered the whole country, not only blacklisted areas. Sarawak would not be excluded.
Last year, the number of crimes in Malaysia dropped by 32,000 cases.
He said the figure came from the crime index which was reduced by 15 per
cent and street crimes dropped by 35 per cent in the country.
“Besides the efforts of PDRM, the element of luck also brought down the number of crimes,” he said, adding that one of the most crucial factors was community policing.
Ismail said apart from the efforts of police and other parties, the role of the community is equally important.
“In my 39 years of serving in the police force, I have seen the strong bond between police and the community scaring off criminals.
“Although our country faced various threats, we should be proud and grateful as Malaysia is now peaceful and secure enough compared to other countries.
On the crime situation in Sibu, Ismail said the situation was not too bad but he urged his men to beef up their effort this year to further bring down the crime rate.
Living in the world of globalisation, anyone could fall prey to criminals, he said.
“The Internet is a platform which criminals manipulate to search for murder and rape victims, and so on. There was a case where an elderly man searched the Internet for a teenage girl as rape victim.”
He introduced himself as a 20-year-old man to the 18-year-old girl.
“Once they had build trust, the ‘young man’ asked to meet the girl. When the girl agreed, he said his ‘father’ would fetch her. But the ‘father’ turned out to be the criminal himself.”
Ismail said this was a real story that happened overseas.
He urged the people here to be aware of the threat.