Only half of approved auxiliary police vacancies filled

LANGKAWI: The Royal Malaysian Police will consider giving extensions to government and private agencies which face difficulty filling vacancies in their auxiliary police units.

Security and Crime Prevention Department support resources coordination principal assistant director, Datuk Mazlan Kesah said the matter would be taken into account, as of the 60,611 posts approved, only 30,365 were filled, and each agency which applied for a licence to form such a unit was required to meet the staffing quota within three years.

“If they cannot (meet the requirement within the prescribed period), they can apply for an extension, and we are ready to assist,” he told reporters after officiating at the passing-out parade for auxiliary police basic training course participants at the Police Training Centre (Pulapol), here.

The parade, which involved 245 auxiliary policemen from various agencies around the country, was also witnessed by Langkawi Pulapol commander, ACP Baljeet Singh Kartar Singh.

Mazlan said the extension period was also to address the shortage of auxiliary police, which he considered to be an essential unit to complement the security forces in the country.

He said former officers and members of the police force were also encouraged to join the auxiliary police if they received a good offer.

“Private entities or nongovernmental organisations are also welcome to work with the police to provide human capital to fill the vacancies,” he said.

According to him, one of such collaborations was between the MIC and Pulapol recently to train 54 Indian youths on basic policing towards becoming auxiliary policemen.

He said those who had completed the basic training would be monitored from time to time, and provided with more advanced training.

“The training approach will also be regularly reviewed and improved, such as in terms of tackling the latest threats such as cyber crime,” he added. Bernama