Sar Kheng calls on officers to improve communal policing
MINISTER of Interior Sar Kheng instructed communal police officers to implement new means of improving the quality of the services they provide to the public.
Sar Kheng gave the instructions while presiding over a March 28 meeting to examine the results of research into the subject, according to the ministry.
“Each individual officer must determine just what they can do to improve the quality and sustainability of the work that they do,” he was quoted as saying.
Deputy National Police chief Chhay Kim Khoeun, who is also chairman of the working group that conducted the research, said the study had taken approximately six months, from February until September last year.
“The working group selected 138 administrative police stations from across each of the Kingdom’s capital-provinces as samples for our research. We met with commune chiefs, members of the commune councils, clerks, village chiefs, team leaders, village security guards, police chiefs and their deputies, as well as rank-and file officers.
“In total, we spoke with 3,770 individuals, 487 of them women,” he said.
There are currently 1,652 administrative police stations across the country.
“We were able to see firsthand the close cooperation of the interior ministry and the national police with the administrative officers. This took the form of training, as well as the exchange of principles, motivation and planning techniques,” added Kim Khoeun.
Yong Kim Eng, president of the People’s Centre for Development and Peace, said that improving services at all police stations would lead to improved public safety, especially in the more remote parts of the country.
He said he believed that officers at many police stations had done excellent work, though improvement was required by others.
“Naturally, every individual police officer must carry out their duties as conscientiously as they can. If crimes are occurring, it may be a sign that law enforcement efforts are inadequate,” he said.
“Communities should not be plagued by thieves or drug users, so police officers should all be working to eliminate these problems,” he added.