By Clara Chooi
KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — PEMANDU sought today to allay rising fears over the recent spate of violent crime cases, releasing fresh statistics that show the country’s index crime dipped by 10.1 per cent from January to May this year.
Pointing out that figures negate the current perception on crime, PEMANDU “Reducing Crime NKRA” director Eugene Teh appealed to the public to be “fair” to the police force and give its officers due recognition for their efforts.
“At the end of the day, the police are also humans. To be honest with you, they have been subjected to a lot of stress, whether from the ministry, the prime minister or the press.
“So if you recognise the effort, why not give them due recognition,” he told a media briefing here.
He said the country’s 115,000 police personnel were Malaysia’s “only option” to reduce crime in the country.
“At the end of the day, we are the beneficiaries,” he pointed out.
According to figures released today, index crime dropped 10.1 per cent to 63,221 cases between January and May this year from the 70,343 cases recorded in the corresponding period last year.
Street crimes dropped 43 per cent to 9,287 cases in the same period, down from 16,294 cases recorded in 2009.
Index crimes include property theft (theft, snatch theft, vehicle theft, machinery theft, house break-in) and violent crimes (robbery assault, rape and murder) while street crimes are classified as snatch theft, robbery without firearms and gang robbery without firearms.
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