KUALA LUMPUR: Police refuted claims that the recent rise in crimes in Selangor were due to the repealed Emergency Ordinance (EO).
State deputy police chief, Senior Asst Comm Datuk A. Thaiveegan said a thorough study must be done before police can establish a link between the two.
"How can we say the two are linked? We cannot assume any thing. We must be sure," he told The Malay Mail yesterday.
He was responding to comments made by Selangor Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) advisor Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam, last week, that with the repeal of the EO there could be as many as 2,000 former detainees roaming free in Selangor.
Navaratnam said the recent spate of crime in the state could be linked to the release of the criminals.
Thaiveegan also denied that the crime rate in Selangor had gone up.
"Statistics from January to June this year shows crime rate has gone down by 11.2 per cent, compared to the same period last year.
"People can assume whatever they want, but as a policeman, I must give evidence and this is what the statistics show," he said.
Thaiveegan was clearing the air on his actual stance on the alleged effect of the EO's repeal.
His comments follows a report by a news portal on Saturday that he had suggested that rising complaints of Selangor crime levels may be a result of the mass release of suspected criminals from Simpang Renggam detention centre, following the EO repeal.
In the report, Thaiveegan was quoted as saying: "The government is confident that they (the detainees) should be given a chance to start a new life so that they return to the right path, but do they return to the right path or not, we do not know yet.
"But we see there is a rise in crime (recently) because they've been in (detention) for too long, they need "exercise", so they come out and immediately they carry out their activities."
Last September, the federal government repealed the controversial EO, a security law introduced after the 1969 race riots that allowed the authorities to detain a person without trial for up to two years, similar to the much--criticised Internal Security Act.
