HIGH-PROFILE POLICING PROGRAMME TO REDUCE CRIME

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 (Bernama) -- The Royal Malaysia Police will implement
the 'High-Profile Policing' programme as part of the initiatives to bring down
the crime rate, especially street crime, as targeted under the National Key
Result Area (NKRA).

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the holistic and aggressive approach
was being taken to check criminal activities which continued to pose a serious
problem to the country.

"Under this programme, senior police officers are required to join the
front-line policemen in their 'walkabout' and 'meet and greet' the public
sessions at the appropriate locations and time in a systematic manner.

"The 'walkabout' involves beat and patrolling duty while the 'meet and
greet' session involves face-to-face interaction between the police and the
public in a constructive manner," he told reporters here Monday.

He said the frequent police presence could check the incidence of crime and
the ministry was now actively increasing police presence in crime hot-spot areas
throughout the country.

He said People's Volunteer Corps (Rela) members and Civil Defence personnel
were given special training similar to the ones given to members of the Police
Volunteer Reserve (PVR) to help the police in reducing street crime.

"Beginning today, another 1,042 Rela members and 491 Civil Defence personnel
are deployed to 50 hot-spots identified in four states, namely Kuala Lumpur
(Federal Territory), states of Selangor, Johor and Penang in efforts to bring
down the number of street crime," he said.
-- BERNAMA