KUCHING: Sarawak police will tighten the enforcement of the Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) with the help of the neighbourhood watch committees and voluntary patrol schemes effective Tuesday.
State Police Commissioner Datuk Aidi Ismail revealed that the police would also be asking help from the National Unity Department to activate the committees and schemes.
“We (police) will tag along with these groups to monitor and take care of residential areas and villages around Kuching and Padawan.
“They will be our eyes and ears in these areas, and they will report any SOP non-compliance in their areas to us,” he said during the daily Covid-19 update press conference on Monday.
Currently, 950 personnel from 241 teams involving various agencies such as the army, Civil Defence Force (APM), People Volunteer’s Corp (Rela), Sarawak Security Unit (UKNS) and the local authorities are helping to enforce the SOPs.
Aidi told that Sarawak police would be dividing Kuching into nine zones according to the police stations under its administration.
Padawan, he added, would be divided into six zones.
The zones under Kuching are the Central police station, Gita police station, Sekama police station, Satok police station, Sungai Maong police station, Padungan police station, Santubong police station, Tabuan Jaya police station and Bintawa police station.
Under Padawan, the zones are Kota Sentosa police station, Batu Kawa police station, Mile 10 police station, Siburan police station, Tapah police station and Beratok police station.
Aidi said police station chiefs would be acting as the coordinating zone officers and would study the current situation in their respective zones.
Hotspot places and locations where people gathered would be a priority (in this operation) such as in markets, supermarkets, shopping malls, eateries, leisure places and others.
“We will also divide the time zones for enforcement. From 6am to 10am, our teams will be focusing on the markets; from 10am to 5pm, they will focus on shopping malls, eateries and business premises and from 7pm to 10pm, our teams will focus on public gathering areas at the Waterfront, eateries and bistros.
“Apart from that, we will also open hotlines for the public to contact the police if there is any SOP non-compliance. The hotline in Kuching is 082-244444 and for Padawan, the hotline is 082-862233,” he stated. Aidi added that the enforcement of the SOPs would be done through four methods such as walking patrols in public gathering hotspot places; the static method where officers will sit at mobile stations or use the ‘Ops Payung’ concept; using loud speakers in mobile patrol vehicles (MPV) to advise the public to obey the rules and using sirens and beacon lights in residential areas to indicate the presence of the police.
