KUCHING: The Padawan Police Station will be the first to try out a police “walkabout” as part of its effort to decrease crime like what the Hong Kong police are doing. Hong Kong police, popularly known as “Ah Sir”, are famous for walking the streets to combat crimes.
When interviewed by Sarawak Tribune yesterday, Padawan deputy police chief DSP Merbin Lisa said his walkabout in town yesterday had given him the idea to try the walkabout on a daily basis instead of monthly, using patrolling police on duty.
Merbin has gone to the ground yesterday in the morning to the wet market at Kota Sentosa with a team of officers and personnel from Padawan Police Station. From there, he mingled with both the hawkers and the members of the public.
“It is actually a form of community policing which my station has been doing since January this year. We try to go down at least once or twice a month, especially to crime prone areas, and I found that we can get a lot out of these walkabouts,” he said.
While some people are too “shy” to go to the police station to give information, Merbin realised that going to them instead could obtain a different reaction all together.
“Suddenly, we have a lot of information on suspicious characters, some who witnessed housebreaking and theft among other things,” he said, adding that with the information collected, they have immediately looked into it.
At the same time, Merbin also said that the walkabout has changed the people’s perception of the men in blue.
“There are some hawkers who recognised us and greeted us warmly. This is what we set up to achieve, being closer to the people.
“I want to go a step further by asking my men to walk, not only to patrol using motorcycles or vehicles. I have always asked my men to park somewhere and walk around.
“When you walk around, people find you to be more approachable and easier to talk to. Do you think any people would wave at us on our motorcycle or vehicle to give us information of a crime that occurred weeks ago? They will not as this would attract unwanted attention to the informers,” he said.
The walkabout would take place at different areas in the Padawan district.
Leaflets on crime prevention along with emergency contact numbers were also distributed to the public.
