How can we reduce crime?

Nst had produce a "TALK BACK" session to get some ideas from the public on HOW TO Reduce Crime. Few interesting ideas were taken from it.

Web poll: How can we reduce crime?
NST

Ronnie:
Get the police to do their jobs, especially in Penang. The public never ever sees policemen on the streets in Penang.

I'm thinking that 95% of them are in the police stations.

The other 5% would be in coffee shops. Of course, if we were to mention it to a police officer about it, he'd get pretty defensive about how hard the police have worked all this time. I'm not talking about just crime prevention. It's general policing of the streets, illegal parking, etc. Anyone in Penang will know you can park your car anywhere, even in the middle of the road and no one will do anything. It's a sad situation here. My wife had her handbag snatched in a restaurant. We went to the nearest police station and only two police were there. One watching TV, the other took our statement. He didn't deploy police to the scene, even though he mentioned that the restaurant had frequent snatch thefts already.Anyway, that statement he took from us could not be logged that night cos the computer was 'offline'. Then he asked us to go to the Central Police Station where the 'A Team' crime unit wants another statement from us. The guy who took our statement there couldn't even spell simple words. Anyway, that's all he did. No action, just write a report for statistics purposes. My wife is from Hong Kong and she said the police there would have gone to the crime scene immediately and questioned everyone plus all the employees there within 3 minutes. But this is Malaysia with a different set of rules. The police in Penang prefer not to work as hard. Who would we blame? I guess the person in charge, of course.

Richard, Penang:
The police should first stop corruption at all levels. The fact that there are cars on the streets who publicly break all laws, show that this disease is rampant.

Heavily tinted vehicle windows, queue cutting, traffic light beating, illegal racing and other road menaces are not attended to.

I have even seen police personnel walk pass illegal VCD peddlars like it was all fine and dandy.

SooTee, Johore Baru:
The police have a 'tidak-apa' mentality. I live near a closed down shopping centre (Pacific Mall).

It's located behind the new traffic police complex and near a police housing estate.

Thieves are stripping the mall bare of everything they can lay their hands on and the police don't do anything.

They don't patrol the area even after the residents nearby have informed them of these acts.

I fear that these thieves will start robbing the houses in the area once the mall is stripped clean.


Aishah, Kuala Lumpur:
1) Eliminate corruption and enforce strict penalty so that police will do their job and not demand bribes

2) Maintain higher standards in police force - sack them if they don't do their job, punish them if they abuse the law

3) Stop using law enforcement resources to harass ordinary citizens i.e. stop raids in clubs and homes, stop shooting pets, etc. and focus resources on stopping real crime