RTD sets up Intelligence Unit
PUTRAJAYA: The Road Transport Department ( RTD) has set up an Intelligence Unit to collect and process information before physical action such as operations are conducted on road users.
RTD director- general Datuk Shaharuddin Khalid said the role of the unit which comes under its Enforcement Division and operational from next year was to ensure every enforcement action was conducted accurately on target groups based on intelligence.
“This unit is set up as a continuation of the government’s desire to resolve road law enforcement related to drivers’ licensing, speeding and driving in emergency lanes more holistically.
“Information from the intelligence unit will be reported directly to the director-general of the Road Transport Department through the Enforcement Division Director before enforcement action such as special operations are implemented,” he told a press conference here yesterday on his 100th days of leading the RTD as the new director- general.
Shaharuddin also launched ‘ Notes on RTD Governance Towards TN50’, a set of documents specially designed for the rebranding of the department in achieving the 2050 National Transformation agenda ( TN50) where the establishment of the Intelligence Unit was one such transformation.
He said the effort to improve RTD services also involved the setting up of the International Relations Unit with the main scope of its task to trigger and strengthen the department’s bilateral relations with similar enforcement agencies in the region, especially those with direct links like Singapore, Thailand, Brunei and Indonesia.
Shaharuddin said that RTD’s relationships with the countries concerned was limited to automotive matters, namely, the Vehicle Entry Permit System, and through the links to be established hereafter, proactive action could be taken in enforcing road laws.
On the enforcement aspect, he said the department was committed to conduct a transformation so that it would be known as an agency that educated the public on the importance of compliance with the laws for their own good, rather than being permanently labelled as a ‘stop and fine agency as was the common perception yesterday.
In the context of upholding customer service, Shaharuddin said RTD would introduce more online services, including the Driving Education Curriculum book, which would be a change from the manual method to ebook beginning March 2018, an initiative that is believed will address the shortage of books that often arise.
“Although online services are introduced, services at counters, especially at rural RTD branches are maintained based on our awareness of the (poor) capabilities of telecommunications access in these area,” he said. — Bernama