Tackling crime is a joint community effort

Tackling crime is a joint community effort
June 22, The Star

AMNESTY International Malaysia executive director Josef Roy Benedict has made some interesting and constructive comments in his letter Adopt Community Policing Approach (The Star, June 21).

The Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) has since its inception expounded the “safe-city initiative” as a form of community policing to help fight crime and create a safe living environment for all.

The move entails the mobilisation of all relevant parties like planners and architects, developers, voluntary organizations, local authorities and residents to work in partnership and implement initiatives for crime prevention.

Basically, 10 activities will be undertaken in the safe-city initiative:

# Selection of project areas in consultation with the police;

# Identification of target groups in the project areas;

# Explaining the concept to the target groups;

# Setting-up the safe-city committee for the project area;

# Identifying crime issues and problems by the target groups and the safe-city committee;

# Solving issues and problems by the target groups;

# Implementing suggestions on crime prevention;

# Monitoring the effectiveness of suggestions and making amendments if necessary;

# Documenting project activities; and

# Monitoring the safe-city concept with continuous follow-up action.

The safe-city committee will be chaired by a residents representative, preferably the chairman of the residents association, and comprise representatives from the local authority, the police, the MCPF, relevant government agencies, non-governmental organisations, the developer and professionals like architects, planners, etc.

The implementation of this requires concerted effort and cooperation between all parties - from city planners and architects who design the environment, developers who build it, government officials responsible for administering the community and the residents who live there – working towards creating a safer living environment.

While we recognise that the police has a major role to play to combat crime, the responsibility is not theirs alone. Citizens and residents should always be conscious of the need to be vigilant and help participate in crime prevention efforts.

TAN SRI LEE LAM THYE,
Vice-chairman,
Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation.