KUCHING: Kuching district police chief, ACP Awang Din Awang, is glad that the city’s crime index has decreased by 1.04 percent this year for the period from January to September compared to the same period last year. In a monthly parade held yesterday at Simpang Tiga police headquarters, Awang Din disclosed that 952 crime cases were reported in the first nine months of this year. There were 962 cases last year.
He said the crime solving rate was high this year at 41.07 percent (391 cases) compared to 33.9 percent (327) cases solved last year. The number of suspects arrested was 597 compared to 479 last year. This year there was a decrease in property crime cases at 19 (especially motorcycle theft) which helped to bring down the crime index. Awang Din pointed out that the number of armed robberies has increased due to the presence of 24-hour convenience stores. There was an increase of nine cases (6.72 percent).
Despite the increase, the police chief said of the 53 cases of armed robberies, 37 had been solved and the suspect was also placed under thePrevention of Crime Act 1959 (Poca), which is a law that allows an individual to be placed in police custody for a maximum of 60 days of remand without trial.
During ‘Ops Lejang’, 450 suspects were arrested, an achievement which Awang Din attributed to the diligence of officers from all police stations that monitored the persons of interest.
Stressing that team work was important to bring the crime rate down, he encouraged his men to uphold their motto and mind a message from the Inspector-General of Police to focus on their work and to resist corruption. Awang Din also gave away letter of recommendation to his men. After the parade, he celebrated with 66 police officers and rank and file whose birthday falls in the month of September.
