KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 8 (Bernama) -- The Royal Malaysian Police will step up efforts to fight crime by further improving the integrity, professionalism and image of its officers as well as modernising its equipment and infrastructure, says Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Haji Ismail Omar.
"One of the key elements for success here will be to increase the integrity of my officers to an even higher level," he told a briefing of senior news editors at the federal police headquarters at Bukit Aman here earlier this week.
Among the senior officers present included the Deputy IGP Datuk Seri Hussin Ismail, CID Director Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Zinin, Director of Narcotics Investigations Datuk Noor Rashid Ibrahim, Director of Commercial Crime Investigations Datuk Syed Ismail Syed Azizan, Director of Logistics Datuk Mashuri Zainal.
Ismail admitted that there were a "few bad apples" who had tarnished the image of the force but said he would go all out to increase the level of professionalism of his officers through human capital development and training.
For a start, all front-liners must look smart in their uniforms and be professional in their conduct and duties like stopping a car, issuing summons or taking down a report, he said.
"They must be first-class in their appearance, conduct and speech," said Ismail, who became the IGP on Sept 13 last year after having joined the police force as an inspector in 1971.
Ismail also said that since he took over at the helm, police officers had also been directed to forge closer relations with people in their communities, including religious bodies.
To portray an even more positive image of the force, police officers had been advised that they should attend prayers in their uniforms in mosques, temples or churches and be pro-actively engaged in the activities of these houses of worship.
"We want to take a new approach here. I have been told that police officers in Penang, Johor and Perak had travelled together in police buses to pray and I hope that officers in the other states will follow suit," said Ismail.
By forging closer relationships with the community, he said that this would help the police to win the people's confidence and co-operation, which would go a long way to help them in their crime prevention and crime-solving work.
"It's about instilling greater respect and love for my officers in blue," he said.
On modernising the police force's infrastructure and equipment, he said it was not only about asset acquisition but also training his officers to be able to use the latest technology to combat crime.
Getting the police force to be better equipped with the latest surveillance technology would enable its officers to enhance their overall capability, he said.
"We want to make Malaysia a safe place to live�for Malaysians, investors and tourists�we want them to feel really safe," he said, adding that the police, as custodians of the law, would adopt a firm and forceful but prudent approach when dealing with those who flout the country's laws.
The police force has successfully surpassed the targets set by PEMANDU (Performance Management and Delivery Unit in the Prime Minister's Department) to reduce street crime by 20 per cent and overall crime by 5.0 per cent in 2010 under the National Key Results Areas (NKRA) for Crime.
In actual fact, Malaysia's street crime index dropped by 35 per cent in 2010 when compared with 2009 while overall crime fell by 15 per cent against 2009.
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