The government has taken urgent steps to curb crime in the country, including installing closed-circuit televisions in crime hotspots as an immediate deterrent measure and hiring more police personnel in the long run.

However, the crime situation is not prevalent in all parts of the country, deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharom told the Dewan Rakyat today.

"Only certain hotspots like Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru are affected. Rural areas are still safe from crimes," he said.

Nevertheless, Johari said the government viewed the present crime situation in the country seriously.

The government and the police have come under severe criticism in recent weeks following surging crime rates especially in Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur.

In an attempt to stem the mounting criticism and to overcome the crime rise in Johor, the government last week announced that 400 extra police personnel would be sent to that state.

Also dispatched to the southern state are 200 extra patrol cars, with three new police district headquarters to be build.

Increasing personnel

In line with this, Johari said that the government aimed to increase the number of police personnel to 60,000 within the next five years.

"Interpol promotes one policeman for every 250 citizens, but in Sentul (a suburb in Kuala Lumpur) for an instance, we have one policeman for every 1,800 people.

"This shows that we need more policemen," he added.

"However, it takes time to train police personnel," he said, adding that lack of trainers and training centers are the main reasons why it takes time to employ more policemen.

Johari (BN-Kubang Pasu) was responding to Yap Pian Hon (BN-Serdang) who asked the Internal Security Minister to state the number of police stations that will be built in Selangor under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

Yap also sought to know if the ministry will also increase the number of policemen once the new police stations are built.

"Will the government bring in extra policemen soon after the increase in the number of police stations?" he asked, adding that the government should not wait to take actions until the situation gets worse like in Johor Bahru.

Strategic plan

Johari also said that the police force had solved 58.8 percent of the hardcore crime cases in 2005, whereas in 2006, the percentage increased to 60.11 percent.

He explained that the force's five-year strategic plan (2007-2011) has been helpful in controlling crime in the country and to eliminate the public's fear for crime.

"The formation of Rakan Cop and joint patrols with local councils are the measures taken to gain the public's confidence on the police force," he said.