KL police seek to have more police stations to check crime

KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 -- Kuala Lumpur Police propose to increase the number of police stations in the city from 18 to 47 in an effort to step up police presence and reduce crime, Kuala Lumpur deputy police chief Datuk Abu Samah Mat said today.

He said the proposal, pending approval by the Bukit Aman police headquarters and the Home Ministry, involved upgrading 20 community police stations to full-scale police stations and setting up nine new police stations.

The upgrading would also involve augmenting the number of police personnel and providing more facilities, he told reporters after Deputy Home Minister Jelaing Mersat visited Alam Damai, a crime hot spot, in Cheras, here.

Jelaing also met with the people there and toured the Alam Damai Rukun Tetangga (Neighbourhood Watch) sector and housing estates in the vicinity.

The existing 18 police stations in Kuala Lumpur are classified as Grade A (having 140 personnel), Grade B (130) and Grade C (100). Community police stations are helmed by a sergeant who is assisted by seven personnel.

Abu Samah said that in meeting the request of the people who wanted police stations in their housing estates, Kuala Lumpur Police would locate police stations in selected places, especially in the 11 crime hot spots.

"We have 11 mobile police stations in Kuala Lumpur, and we are asking for 11 more to be stationed in the hot spots," he said.

He said Alam Damai, which was one of the hot spots, had seen a reduction in the crime rate by 45 per cent since September last year.

"This is a positive sign, and we hope there will such improvements in the other hot spots in the city," he said.

Besides Alam Damai, Taman Midah, Taman Connaught and Bandar Permaisuri are also hot spots, which come under the jurisdiction of the Cheras police.

The other hot spots are Bukit Bintang and Jalan Pudu, which come under the jurisdiction of the Dang Wangi police, Brickfields and Kuchai Park under the Brickfields police and Jinjang Utara, Metro Prima Kepong and Danau Kota under the Sentul police.

BERNAMA