I refer to “Police plan high-tech beef-up to fight crime”(Star October 1).
It is very exciting to know that our police force would soon become highly sophisticated, acquiring the use of the latest high-tech devices and set up a surface-to-sea and surface-to-air network of camera surveillance systems.
It is extremely exciting to imagine our police constables being equipped with hand-held computers and micro cameras fitted in their walkie-talkies for monitoring purposes. Our police helicopters would be fitted with sophisticated surveillance cameras that can feed images, to the control centre for tracking purposes. We will have an e-solution system that will enable us to communicate with our police helicopters, airplanes and marine police as well as with our mobile police vehicles, traffic policemen in patrol cars and on motorcycles.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan must be congratulated for his commitment and keen personal interest in fighting crime. The crime rate has reached a level that we are so fearful to go about with our daily routine activities. It has reached a stage where our safety even within our homes is not guaranteed anymore. This massive plan, costing billions of ringgit, to beef up the police force, would definitely go a long way in our combat against crime. Nobody will be happier than the rakyat if the crime rate can be reduced.
While we appreciate the noble aims of the IGP to bring down the crime rate drastically, we must also bear in mind that it would be no easy task to achieve that. Gadgets are as good as the user and if the police personnel are not fully trained or lack the necessary commitment, no amount of high-tech sophistication can bring about the desired effects.
A number of fundamental prerequisites need to be firmly in place before we embark on any ambitious high-tech projects, otherwise all our efforts, time and money would only go to waste. These include a police force that is incorruptible, truly independent and free from political interference and above all a force whose members are dedicated and committed to serve all citizens without fear or favour.
A reasonable level of basic education of the police personnel is also essential so that they can be effectively trained in the latest technological advancements being used in crime investigation.
There is also a need to forge a more people-friendly police force, so that the people’s perception of the police would be one of respect and not fear. This particularly applies to innocent victims of crime who fear the hassle of dealing with the police despite being innocent.
The government should ensure these prerequisites are well in place before frog-leaping into the high-tech era of the “Future e-Cop”. If we are not careful we may end up hiding behind sophisticated equipment, which by themselves alone are not going to reduce crime.
Acquiring these extremely sophisticated equipments may be easy but to maintain them efficiently in the long term may not be so. Even the Prime Minister had often lamented that Malaysians are good in building state of the art structures but very poor when it come to maintaining them for long.
Dr.Chris Anthony
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