Street crimes down 28%

The Sun
by Charles Ramendran

KUALA LUMPUR (April 26, 2010): Police have exceeded the 20% target to reduce street crimes set by the government's national key results area (NKRA), according to statistics released today.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said between January and mid-April this year, street crimes dropped 28% in 50 crime hotspots indentified in four states namely Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Johor and Penang.

The four states contribute 80% of street crimes reported nationwide.

Musa said the total national crime index for street crimes has also declined by 15% to 7,330 cases in the same period, compared to 9,984 cases last year.

As for national crime index during the same period, there were 61,562 cases in 2009 and this came down to 52,366 cases this year.

The government had set police the target of reducing street crimes by 20% by year end as one of the six National Key Results Areas (NKRAs) announced last July.

Musa, who launched the Crime Prevention Awareness Week organised by Exxon Mobil at the Exxon Mobil Towers here, said although police had exceeded the given target, it must be maintained or even reduced further.

On another matter, Musa said pepper spray which is being openly sold as a weapon against attacks by criminals should be made a controlled item.

"We know it is being marketed and sold as a tool for personal protection. However, we must also be aware that it can be used by criminals too to attack their victims. This is our concern," he said.

He suggested shops selling pepper keep a record of the personal particulars of the buyer of the product.

"This way we may at least know where to look for clues should there be a criminal attack involving pepper sprays," he said. -- theSun