School bullying to be the focus of new CP

KUCHING: Tackling school bullies will be among the top priority of new Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Amer Awal, who started his official duty as the state’s top cop yesterday.

Amer, who took over the reins from Datuk Mazlan Mansor, also promised to lower the state’s crime index by increasing crime prevention activities.

“We will focus on cases which have been highlighted such as bullying, which can lead to serious injuries or deaths,” said Amer during a press conference after receiving his duties from Mazlan at the state police headquarters at Jalan Badruddin here yesterday.

He added that the police will find a way to work something out with school authorities to put a stop and discourage bullying among students.

According to him, if found guilty by the court, the bullies face serving time in rehabilitation centres or even jail for a lengthy period.

Amer disclosed that another focus of the state police is to ensure that concrete evidence can be produced to more effectively charge a suspect in court.

The delivery system of the Sarawak police, he added, will also be improved to meet the expectations of the people in line with the theme ‘Polis dan Masyarakat Berpisah Tiada’.

“I will also continue all the efforts made by him (Mazlan) during his term as the state police commissioner and give the best service to the community,” said Amer, who was the previous deputy director of the Internal Security and Public Order Department at Bukit Aman.

Mazlan, who was state police commissioner for the past one year and seven months, is now the new Selangor police chief, having assumed the post on July 7 following the retirement of Datuk Seri Abdul Samah Mat.

Witnessing the handingover-of-duties yesterday was federal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Datuk Seri Mohmad Salleh, representing Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.