P’pang cops to adopt five villages every 3 months

PENAMPANG: Five villages will be chosen every three months under the Kampung Angkat Program to enable the police to continue to provide and maintain security and safety for the community.

Penampang police chief DSP Mohd Haris Ibrahim said a rotation system would be implemented to enable every village in Penampang and Putatan to be part of the Kampung Angkat program.

“We will chose five villages every three months to be part of this program.

“This will ensure that every village here in Penampang and Putatan can be part of the Kampung Angkat Program,” he said

Mohd Haris, however, said that if police believed that a certain village was still considered a hotspot area, then that village would be rolled back and continued for another three more months under the rotation system.

“Our priority is to ensure all villages in Penampang and Putatan are free from criminal and drug activities, so if a village that has undergone the program but is still considered a hotspot area, then that particular village will again be part of the Kampung Angkat Program for another remaining three months,” Mohd Haris said this during the Kampung Angkat community policing program at Delta Height Penampang in Bundusan, here yesterday.

He said a village would be chosen as Kampung Angkat based on certain criteria among which are crimes reported in those villages or if the village was categorised as a hotspot area.

Delta Height Penampang, said Mohd Hari was one of the five villages under the Kampung Angkat Program due to its previous reported crime rate.

“Several crime incidents have been reported here in Delta Height and its surrounding area, among which were burglary, theft, vehicle theft and drug activities,” he said.

The Kampung Angkat or adopted village was first launched last month as part of the Sabah Police Contingent’s (IPK Sabah) efforts to decrease and curb criminal activities from happening in the country.

“The program is also a way for the communities to play their part in helping the police to fight criminal and drug activities in their areas.”

Twenty-four villages in four districts were chosen under the Kampung Angkat Program, namely Penampang, Tuaran, Papar and Kota Kinabalu.