With constables raking in a meagre starting salary of RM650 per month, the new Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan said the police are the nation's cheapest labour force.

Musa, who assumed office on Tuesday, said the salary did not tally with the nature and amount of work lower ranking personnel have to do.

No wonder that not many people wanted to join the police force, he said, adding: "Sometimes, I think even the foreign workers get paid more."

According to Bernama , Musa was speaking at a dialogue between the police and the Petaling Jaya North Security Council and residents last night.

Earlier, Deputy Internal Security Minister Fu Ah Kiow said the salary of a constable came up to only RM1,100, much less than the RM1,500 poverty line for Kuala Lumpur.

Meanwhile, Musa said one of his top priorities as the new IGP was to ensure a salary increase for those police personnel from the rank of constable to assistant commissioner (ACP).

He also expressed unhappiness over the current method of recruiting police personnel, through walk-in interviews.

"I would prefer if those recruited to join the force were vetted thoroughly because these are going to be the people who will be entrusted with a lot of authority and power," he said.

Musa revealed that he was "vetted for three months" when he joined the force and said he hoped he could do the same with new candidates.

Lack of IOs

When residents raised the issue of the lack of investigating officers (IOs) to record statements and complaints, he said the problem was the limited number of IOs in the police district.

"We currently have only six IOs working daily at the PJ police district headquarters. If there are many cases that day, they would all be outside and complainants have to wait for them to return.

"I would like to put at least seven IOs on duty a day, with six on standby and 20 sergeants to assist those IOs, but with only 7,000 CID (Criminal Investigation Department) personnel in the country, I can't afford to do this," he said.

Musa said the current ratio of policemen to citizens in Petaling Jaya was 1:149.

The police chief said he would soon deploy those from the Federal Reserve Unit and General Operations Force to assist the police patrol units during patrols in high-density areas and crime hotspots.

Traffic police, non-uniformed policemen and detectives would also be put on the streets to monitor high-risk areas, he said.