Police chief tells public not to take law into their own hands

MIRI: Members of the public have the power to apprehend crime suspects and are also encouraged to lodge police reports but not to take the law into their own hands.

Police chief here ACP Khoo Leng Huat said this at the Miri police and Ex-Police Association of Malaysia Miri branch ( PBPM) dinner on Wednesday.

“Members of the public including former police personnel and retirees act as mobile CCTVs for the police force. You are our eyes and ears.

“If you see a crime happening in

Members of the public including former police personnel and retirees act as mobile CCTVs for the police force. You are our eyes and ears.

front of you or hear of any crime being committed, report them to us,” Khoo told them.

Khoo said the cooperation of all parties was very much needed in crime prevention and this had been proven when Miri recorded a 14 per cent drop in crime index for the period from Jan 1 to February this year.

“I highly appreciate the cooperation being shown by members of the public in preventing crime and the drop (crime index) would not be possible without the support from all levels of society. I hope the cooperation will never stop.”

The dinner brought together police personnel and the retirees to strengthen ties between them.

“I would like to congratulate this association for the dinner successfully held and although members are already retired, the spirit of contributing to the society is still strong in them.”

Khoo added that crime prevention would be successful if members of the public played roles as eyes and ears of the police. The on- going crime prevention campaigns are also one of ways of educating the public on what they can do to help the police.

Head of Community Crime Prevention and Safety DSP Ang Seow Aun, PBPM chairman Han Hipeni, deputy mayor Julaihi Mohamad, Police Families Association ( Perkep) Miri branch chairwoman Jasmine Low Chui Ying and other Miri police section heads were also present at the dinner.

ACP Khoo Leng Huat, Miri police chief

(Seated from second left) Ang, Han, Julaihi, Khoo, Jasmine Low Chui Ying with PBPM members and other police section heads and police personnel in a photocall.