KUCHING: A DAP delegation led by Member of Parliament for Bandar Kuching Dr Kelvin Yii paid a courtesy visit to Kuching District Police chief, ACP Ng Ah Lek in the latter’s office at Simpang Tiga here, yesterday.
During the visit, Dr Kelvin Yii was briefed by police officers on the daily operations and services in running the Police Department state wide as well as the different initiatives and programmes carried out to further educate the public and business owners on community safety and crime prevention.
One of the initiatives discussed was an initiative by DBKU and also the Police Department called “Safe Township” or “Bandar Selamat” where they intend to convert ‘black areas’ (high crime rate)’ to ‘white areas’ through multiple programmes including awareness programmes, community involvement, installation of more street lightings, CCTVs and also increasing police patrols.The programme has been implemented in Kampung Kudei and Jalan Nanas Barat which reportedly have seen a decrease in crime rate since its implementation.
“We also talked about the Community Police initiative around Kuching where residents of different housing areas volunteer and play their part together with the police to help curb crime in the different residential areas. This is actually a good initiative where ordinary citizens take ownership and work together with the police to ensure the safety of their community. I do encourage more people to be part of this as our community safety and a place we can feel safe for our children is an effort we all have a part to play in.
“On top of that, we talked about reforms the Pakatan Harapan government intends to implement especially in the public service with regards to anti-corruption measures, and greater accountability and transparency even in the Police Department. We spoke specifically on the needs of the Police Department and how we could curb incidents of alleged bribes and corruption in different levels in the police force and how we can address the issue.
“It may be a long journey of reform, but we will work together to ensure greater accountability and that the police force will carry out their duties cleanly in ensuring the safety of our community. We will also work towards a decrease in political interference in the police force in order for them to do their jobs in ensuring the safety of the people.
“We will also work together to increase and to improve different initiatives by the Police Department especially on awareness and crime prevention in all strata of society. We do hope that the different relevant agencies can also work together to implement specific programmes in their own community that will help ensure the safety of each community. Prevention is always the best cure,” Dr Yii said when met after the visit.
Also present during the visit were Head of Criminal Investigation Department (KBSJD) and Head of Special Branch (KCKD).
