Arrest criminals, not Pakatan leaders, new IGP told
To combat public perception that the police force is the political stooge of the BN and achieve his vow to return the streets to the people, newly minted-IGP Khalid Abu Bakar must focus on arresting criminals and not Pakatan Rakyat leaders.
To combat public perception that the police force is the political stooge of the BN and achieve his vow to return the streets to the people, newly minted-IGP Khalid Abu Bakar must focus on arresting criminals and not Pakatan Rakyat leaders.
"Unless Khalid shows results of his success in capturing criminals, rather than dealing with the political enemies of BN, he may prove to be an even worse IGP than his predecessor," DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said in a statement today.
Lim, who is also Penang chief minister, said this in reference to the questioning and charging in court of Pakatan leaders as soon as Khalid took over as federal police chief, in particular over the Black 505 rallies protesting the GE13 results that the opposition claimed to be rigged against it.
Khalid, argued Lim, must back up his vow to return the streets to the people and make public safety and security his top priority by more than mere words. He should show success in reducing crime in the country.
Public safety, Lim said, was a general election issue, with the people expressing concern over rising cases of snatch thefts, wayside robberies and shootings despite claims that the crime index dipped 7.6 percent in 2012, with 153,811 cases recorded compared with 166,295 in 2011.
DAP willing to team-up with police
However the rising numbers of victims of crime, said Lim, disproved the claims of the Home Ministry and the police that crime has dropped by 27 percent from 2009 to 2012, compared with a 33 percent increase between 2004 and 2008.
The Penang state government and DAP, said Lim, were willing to cooperate with the police to fight crime as this was too important an issue to be politicised. On this, he proposed a three-point joint-venture with the police:
- Doubling of police patrols;
- Introducing community policing and volunteer neighbourhood patrols; and
- Installing street lights and CCTV cameras in crime hotspots.
A posting in the official police Facebook, which reported this, also said that shortly after the ceremony, Khalid, who took over from Ismail Omar as the 10th IGP, chaired a meeting of senior officers, including Bukit Aman directors and state police chiefs.
Related stories
'Stop sodomising rakyat's minds with popular votes'
PKR leader charged over Kelana Jaya black rally
Silver nitrate not carcinogenic, voter tells EC
Singapore: Ghani didn't commit offence during campaigning
Cybertroopers hijacked Anwar poll, says The Edge
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
This action cannot be undone.