Reprioritising police is the way forward to lower the crime rate and safeguard our families

Media statement by Liew Chin Tong in George Town on Friday, 20^th July 2012:

Reprioritising police is the way forward to lower the crime rate and safeguard our families

Recently national debate about whether the recent spike in crimes was mere 'perception' has captured headlines and fueled a blame game. However, police distribution is an important factor that has escaped public notice. Statistics will show a clearer picture of what is hindering the men in blue from making us feel safe.

As of January 2011, for every uniformed police handling crime, there are six in non-crime sectors. This means six times as many policemen are tasked with non-crime related jobs, than those who are fighting crime. It is a sobering fact that the criminal investigation department makes up only 8% or 9,346 of the total 105,929 uniformed police force. No wonder we feel unsafe!

Overall, barely 14% of the uniformed police force is in crime-related departments (criminal investigation department, narcotics and commercial crime investigation).

Meanwhile, a whopping 86% of police personnel belong to the non-crime related sectors (management, internal security and public order, logistics, special branch, and special task force). Could this be due to the BN government's obsession with regime security by surveillance of political foes and "chasing shadows" such as the 'cock and bull story' of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorists and former communists who have supposedly infiltrated Pakatan Rakyat as alleged by the Special Branch yesterday.

These startling figures were revealed by the Home Ministry in a written parliamentary reply during the parliamentary session from March 11th to April 7th 2011. The Home Ministry refused to answer a similar question for the parliamentary session this year.

Year	Management	Internal Security and Public Order	Logistics	Criminal Investigation	Special Branch	Narcotics	Commercial Crime	Special Task Force	Total
2001	31,025	25,965	10,325	7,340	4,775	2,705	0	0	82,135
2002	32,876	26,005	10,153	7,417	4,909	2,846	0	0	84,206
2003	33,757	26,717	10,145	8,007	5,080	2,981	0	0	86,687
2004	32,349	30,178	10,299	8,140	5,049	3,096	0	0	89,111
2005	33,884	30,438	10,350	7,340	4,849	3,050	717	0	91,080
2006	34,917	30,137	10,215	8,188	4,851	3,256	991	0	92,555
2007	35,638	32,067	11,073	8,404	4,907	3,336	1,090	0	96,515
2008	38,704	32,510	10,585	8,918	5,094	3,615	1,309	0	100,735
2009	39,354	34,059	10,879	8,900	5,193	3,821	1,343	69	103,618
2010	43,126	32,815	10,097	9,335	5,102	4,014	1,420	170	106,079
2011	43,343	32,656	9,922	9,346	5,050	4,033	1,410	169	105,929

Source: Ministry of Home Affairs' written parliamentary reply to MP for Bukit Bendera Liew Chin Tong, Mar 11- April 7, 2011

In 2005, the Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission of Inquiry Report made recommendations on transforming the Malaysian Police into an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service focused on three core functions to keep crime low, to eradicate corruption and to uphold human rights.

The total number of uniformed police personnel increased from 82,135 in 2001 to 105,929 a decade later. (Civilian staff in the police force is not included in the statistics). Throughout the years, there have not been changes in the distribution of personnel among departments to reflect the public demand for lower crime.

For instance, in 2011, 41% of uniformed police are in management, 31% internal security and public order, 9% in logistics, 5% in special branch whereas the criminal investigation department only had 9% of the uniformed personnel.

Chart: Distribution of uniformed police personnel in 2011

Chart: Distribution of uniformed police personnel in crime and non-crime sectors between 2007 and 2011.

The Police was given an allocation of RM 4.5 billion in 2010, RM 5.8 billion in 2011 and RM 6.3 billion in 2012 respectively. There is an increase of RM 1.8 billion or 40% between 2010 and 2012.

Consistently in the past three years, the criminal investigation department has received only 8% of the total allocation. Talk about priorities!

There is no point to quarrel over statistics unless the Barisan Nasional government is willing to move beyond its own obsession with regime security and take measures to prioritise the safety of ordinary Malaysians.

* Liew Chin Tong, DAP International Secretary & MP for Bukit Bendera