Sabah crime rate down 21%
KOTA KINABALU: Close rapport between the police and the public have contributed to the drop of crime rate in Sabah, said State Deputy Police Commissioner Datuk Abdul Malek Harun.
Malek said the police had been actively engaging with the public through activities such as meet the people programme and community policing the past couple of years.
“Such programmes have helped the police to fight crime and maintain public safety in the state,” he said after speaking at the 208th Police Day celebration at the state police headquarters in Kepayan here yesterday.
Meanwhile, Malek said for the first three months of this year, the crime index in Sabah dropped 21 percent or 258 cases compared to the same period last year.
“We recorded a total of 966 cases from January to March 23 this year, compared to 1,224 cases the same period last year,” he said.
He said the statistics of cases solved during the same period had also increased from 42.96 percent to 43.22 percent.
“This is one of the many proofs that cooperation between the police and the community is important in the prevention and solving of crime,” he said.
On the armed robbery at a goldsmith’s shop in Sandakan on Tuesday, Malek said the police were still looking for the three men involved in the case.
He said the suspects came in two motorcycles and entered the shop with their helmets on.
“We are still trying to identify them,” he said, urging anyone with information of the case to assist in the investigation.
The three armed robbers carted away jewellery worth RM100,000 from the goldsmith’s shop at Taman Mawar in Sandakan.
One of the robbers threatened to harm three workers at the shop, including a woman, with a machete while another aimed a pistol at them.
No one was harmed hurt in the 8.17am incident.