The public must co-operate in fighting crime. This was the message that came loud and clear at a public dialogue last night.

The landmark dialogue held at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) last night saw the presence of Kuala Lumpur police chief DCP Zul Hasnan Najib Baharudin (right) and nine of his top officials, including five district police chiefs.

The city's top police officers fielded questions, many of which were peppered with criticisms, from the 200 or so people who attended.

The police felt that public co-operation was the most effective means to deal with crime in Kuala Lumpur and lamented that the Rakan Community Oriented Police (Cop) crime alert system was not fully utilised by urbanites, who were increasingly apathetic to vice affecting their communities.

"If you have any information, please call us. The police need the public's help to fight crime," said Zul Hasnan, who also provided the mobile phone numbers of all the top officers, including his, present last night.

"Crime happens when there is opportunity to commit crime and interest to commit crime. If one of these is cut off, there is no crime. The police's job is to disrupt at least one of these two (factors).

"But the responsibility on crime prevention is not only on the police. It's everybody's responsibility. We must keep our property intact, when you keep your property intact, there is no chance for the would be criminal," he added.

He said it was important for people to keep their properties locked and to install alarm systems. "Like (keeping) a dog, that's the minimum you can do," said Zul Hasnan.

Stressing on the matter further, Kuala Lumpur CID chief SAC II Ahmad Ibrahim said people showed a "a lack of care for their valuables and properties."

Ahmad said he noted during personal patrols on the weekends that many people have no extra padlocks, poor quality locks for the rear gates and no steering locks for their cars.

Corruption in the force

To a question on corruption in the police force, Zul Hasnan said if "there are no givers, there will be no takers."

"We (the police) didn't come from heaven or from the sky. We come from the community. Our desires are the same as the community's desires.

"I humbly request from the audience here, please extend this to your friends, please don't give (bribes) to my men. If my men start asking, tell me who he is and I will arrest him. I pledge this," he said to a round of applause.

He also asked the public to call the police if they encounter suspicious characters. He assured that a patrol car "would reach you in 12 minutes."

On the reason behind the low number of personnel allocated for criminal investigations, Zul Hasnan said many police units involved in crime prevention were not categorised under that department.

A recent report from the Prime Minister's Department said that only seven percent of the 100,000- strong police force was used for that department. The opposition have criticised the government for allocating 33,000 personnel under the administrative department (management).
Zul Hasnan explained that patrol officers, multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) officers and district police chiefs were categorised under management but were involved in crime prevention.

"One is prevention, one is investigation. Those under management are prevention. Patrol, roadblocks are prevent. My district police chiefs are involved in prevention. Only my CID chief is under investigation," he said.

"Management in the police is not the same as in a company. Management in the police is responsible for crime prevention," he added

Stressing the point further, Brickfields district police chief ACP Sulaiman Junaidi (right) said the General Operations Force (GOF), marine police, air wing, the Light Strike Force (LSF) and the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) were also categorised under crime prevention.

To another question on why large numbers of police personnel were deployed to monitor opposition ceramah, Zul Hasnan said they use off duty personnel for this.

"We use officers on leave. We also use officers from other departments, LSF or FRU and those who do desk jobs. That's why it seems like a lot. Officers on holidays are also recalled," he said.

Drug menace

On police efforts to curb the drug menace in the city, Kuala Lumpur anti-narcotics chief ACP Kang Chez Chiang said the goal was to disrupt and "go up the chain" when detaining suppliers.

"Most of our operations come from public tip offs. Which is why we need the public to provide us with information," he said.

On drug peddlers, Kang said: "Drugs is a profitable business. If you want to make money, you go into drugs. You'll be rich overnight. We are the guys that disrupt their organisations. (Our goal) is to stop the supply, stop the addicts."

He said drugs are brought in from Burma (marijuana), Europe (ecstasy), China and the Phillippines (methamphetamine/syabu/ice).

He said there are currently locals working with foreigners from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau to turn Malaysia into an export hub for methamphetamine

"From our operations, we see many young people who die from taking drugs. They're only 15 or 16 and they're gone. Parents must pay particular attention to their children to know where they are," he said.