Auxiliary cops needed for Petaling Jaya

Auxiliary cops needed for Petaling Jaya
By FAZLEENA AZIZ
fazleena@thestar.com.my


IT was a proactive move by the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) when it announced that it wanted to have an auxiliary police unit under the enforcement department.

MBPJ had allocated RM4.29mil from its 2010 budget for the purpose, which included emolument, services equipment, assets and other expenses.

Petaling Jaya mayor Datuk Mohamad Roslan Sakiman had said the the auxiliary police was to complement efforts by the police force to keep crime at bay.

It was also in line with MBPJ’s objective to make Petaling Jaya a safer city.

The application was turned down last month and the council submitted an appeal a few days later. It would only know the outcome of this in two months.


For safety: Auxilary policemen on duty at a shopping centre in the Klang Valley

Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah said Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan had rejected the application because of “overlapping responsibilities”.

The grounds for the rejection is not unreasonable as some of the district police jurisdiction and tasks will be overlapping should this come through.

Sivarasa had said the current ratio in Petaling Jaya was one officer to 1,200 residents, which is far from the ideal ratio of one officer to 250 residents.

According to Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua, Klang and Petaling Jaya have the highest crime rate in the state.

So setting up the auxiliary police would help fight crime especially in residential neighbourhoods.

However, some residents argued that having 100 auxiliary policemen would not be sufficient as they would have other duties such as escorting VIPs and guarding the municipal courts.

Petaling Jaya OCPD Asst Comm Arjunaidi Mohamed had said the police were concentrating on high crime rate areas like Sea Park and Damansara.

He said the crime rate was much lower in areas like SS3 and SS5 but gave an assurance that they were beefing up personnel in areas like Sea Park and Damansara.

Kuala Lumpur Sentral is one of the examples where auxiliary police are present to ensure safety and security. Being a high-risk area with thousands of commuters and foreigners, the auxiliary unit is essential for the safety of Petaling Jaya residents.