Serious crime, such as kidnapping, extortion and causing grievous injury, are being classified as non-index crime in an effort to lower the crime index, says the Malaysian Crime Watch Taskforce (MyWatch).

In addition, the NGO claimed, there has been a 3.5 percent increase in vehicle theft cases since last year, but this went unnoticed as well because it too is classified as a non-index crime.

NONEA non-index crime is one that is not taken into account in the national crime index, which Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar reportedly told the media yesterday has dropped from 157,629 cases in 2011 to 153,309 cases last year.

"They want Malaysians to feel that the country is safe, but the country is not safe," MyWatch chairperson R Sri Sanjeevan (right) told a press conference today.

MyWatch questioned why kidnapping - a serious crime that carries the mandatory death penalty - is not included in crime index, and why the increase in vehicle theft was not made public.

It also asked whether this meant that the police did not take such crimes seriously.

MyWatch also challenged Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar and Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein to deny its contention and to explain their claims, failing which the NGO would reveal more in future press conferences.

“I have all the documents here. When we go public, it will not portray a good image of the police force,” Sanjeevan said.

'Return to original crime index format'

MyWatch also called on the police force to return to the original crime index format, which sums up the number of all criminal cases, instead of the current one, introduced under the National Key Results Area (NKRA), which differentiates between index crime and non-index crime.

NONEThe group cited statistics from two purportedly leaked internal letters from Criminal Investigations Department director Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin (left) to all state police chiefs and a number of deputy directors of departments under the federal police force.

In a letter dated Aug 1 last year, Bakri tells the force to redouble the efforts to combat non-index crime to improve the public perception on crime.

“By defination, the crime index should give a picture of the nation’s crime situation. However, there are many non-index crimes, and this has a negative impact on the community’s (perception) on crime...

“It is hoped that efforts to reduce these crimes should contribute to reducing society’s fear toward crime and increase their confidence in the police,” says the letter, which included statistics on various “traumatic” non-index crimes.

All the crimes listed have seen single-digit percentage reductions nationwide between January and June last year, compared with the same period in 2011 - except for kidnapping and causing grievous injury.

Hike in vehicle thefts

Kidnapping remained at 76 cases during the periods for the two years, while cases of causing grievous injury increased by 1.4 percent, from 3,160 cases to 3,203 cases.

The other “traumatic” non-index crimes listed are criminal intimidation and extortion.

In the second letter dated Oct 11, Mohd Bakri tells the force that Bukit Aman has noted an increase in vehicular theft and wants more to be done. This includes identifying hotspots for such thefts, cracking down on the ‘Mat Rempit’ and setting up roadblocks.

The letter says that the number of vehicle thefts between July and September 2012 had increased to 18,269 compared with 17,645 cases over the same period last year.

Of these, 12,909 of the cases during that period in 2012 were motorcycle thefts and 4,196 car thefts The remaining 1,164 made up for the thefts of vans, lorries and other heavy vehicles.

“All these statistics have never been revealed to the public and were stated in the crime index drop that was given by the police or the Ministry of Home Affairs through the NKRA results,” Sanjeevan lamented.

Reached by Malaysiakini this evening after several attempts, Bukit Aman public relations officer ACP Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said he would only respond after going through the media reports on the matter.