On July 6, an intruder broke into my son's house in Section 14, Petaling Jaya and stole my daughter's handphone and charger, which was left next to her bedroom's window.

The next day, my daughter came back from college and checked the mailbox and found our Tenaga Nasional bill with a handwritten note: "I love your daughter, she is pretty, can I marry her, or show me her bekini berkini (both words crossed off because the writer couldn't spell the word) sexy body?"

Fearing for my two daughters' safety, I went to PJ to see what I could do to improve the fencing at the back of the house, which faces some secondary jungle next to the Asia Jaya LRT station. While pondering whether I should lodge a police report, on Tuesday morning at about 8.30am, I heard a loud scream in front of the house and saw a woman fall victim to a snatch thief.

During my frequent visits to PJ over a three-month period, I have witnessed two snatch thefts. In spite of the relatively small losses and no harm done, I took the trouble to lodge a police report.

I was looking forward to last Saturday's DAP forum on this hot topic of crime, and was hoping to listen to what our police chief (who was invited) had to say about it.

However, all of us were very disappointed that the IGP did not attend. He did not even send a representative to hear our views and offer advice, or to clear any misconceptions. It is obvious that the police have a negative attitude towards an initiative of an opposition party.

Judging from the number of people (the majority were males) who attended the forum, and the number who expressed their opinions (unfortunately, not enough time was allocated), the subject of crime and its prevention is highly relevant.

I went to the forum, undecided as to whether to highlight what our family had been through, and what I heard made it seem so insignificant that I decided not to.

A lady said she had witnessed five snatch thefts in a day in front of her house! Then MP Chong Eng related how she was a victim twice in two days, once in Penang and then in PJ.

There is no question as to the seriousness of the crime rate and the absence of the police from the forum was scandalous. Correct me if I am wrong, I believe their presence could have been in the form of plainclothes men from the Special Branch, like always, in any opposition event.

An ex-police officer related how he had seen two policemen on their rounds being more interested in targeting foreign Bangladeshi workers and relieving them of their handphones and money.

To the police who are corrupt (my apologies to those good cops), even if they manage to apprehend a suspect, it is more lucrative to get money from him instead of taking him to the station and charging him in court which involves so much more work and no extra income.

A tour guide related how he was asked by a Chinese tourist what our police personnel look like because he had not seen any. How true! These days we hardly see any police on patrol, maybe they are too busy in the dark alleys and lovers' haunts. Another gentleman jokingly asked what the Police Field Force does - fight mosquitoes in the jungle?

All this may seem funny but if we are serious about fighting crime, the police should re-examine their priorities. Our enemies are among us, they are not the Americans or other Caucasians.

Another gentleman even toyed with the idea of combating crime by using gangsters to fight the snatch thieves and robbers, if the police are of no help.

Surely we do not want this, but the fact that it occurred to him shows how helpless we feel about the inefficiencies of our police force.