There are many issues facing the public these days, crime being one of them. There is a lack of efficient policing or enforcement by our local enforcement agencies. Allow me to share with you what I had witnessed last night while having dinner with a colleague of mine.

We had descended onto one of our favourite 'mamak' corner and were quietly enjoying our dinner when we were, very politely, approached by a young VCD peddler (illegal, no doubt). The fact that he had so politely interrupted us to promote the stack of CDs he had and his excellent command of English left quite an impression on us both.

Having politely declined to purchase any (much to our relief, as we were about to find out), we continued to discuss this fellow's manners and proceeded to speculate that he may be a secondary/college student trying to earn extra pocket money by peddling the VCDs.

We continued to watch him go about his rounds when suddenly he was courted by two men, one of which put his arm around the young peddler and proceeded to walk with him while quietly whispering in his ear.

There was no doubt that these were plainclothes policemen/enforcement personnel who were doing their job, and rightfully so. I had no problem with this even though there was a tinge of sympathy for the young man. What he was doing was wrong and there was no excuse for it. I laud the efforts of the enforcement agencies in their fight against piracy.

What perplexed me was the fact that, within the next two minutes, there were seven enforcement personnel swarming down on this kid and they proceeded to sit him down at the 'mamak' stall and, I presume, to begin their interrogation while perusing the VCDs. But the personnel then proceeded to order drinks and food for themselves and began their personal banter, puffing away while at it, with only one of them asking the youth questions.

We were there for the next 45 minutes and this went on. We proceeded to adjourn and they were still at it - I'm not sure they got what they wanted.

No issue with the interrogation - I'm sure they wanted to get to the source of the fake VCDs. But to have seven personnel do this?

If there was a need to interrogate this boy, surely they could have taken him to their respective centre having confiscated the illegal items. Was there a need to sit down (all seven of them) and spend a good one hour (probably more) to obtain whatever information they needed?

Couldn't the five other personnel (I would think two would have been sufficient to handle this situation - the boy was hardly a threat) gone about doing their jobs at a different locations and prevent these activities further?

I'm not sure if the personnel were the police or members from the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs' enforcement unit. If it's the former, I would be alarmed as they could have been elsewhere preventing crimes for which these days seem to be a dozen a day (heinous ones, at that). The latter would probably be better off checking the price of goods that have suddenly been increased due to the recent fuel price appreciation .

But no, we're left dumbfounded with these 'efficient' moves by our local enforcement agencies while our homes get robbed, cars get stolen, women raped or murdered and children kidnapped. The list goes on.

I wonder who is perpetrating the bigger crime?