Increasing police presence, enhancing public safety

The BN government began to address this situation early on, taking various steps to increase PDRM’s ability to fight crime including supporting the establishment of the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operations and Management of the Police. Following from the Royal Commission’s recommendations, PDRM was allocated RM8 billion for various upgrading efforts under the 9th Malaysia Plan, a tripling from the 8th Malaysia Plan.

In the current phase of PDRM’s improvement initiative, the focus is on increasing police presence to deter criminal activity:

• Many new police stations and beat bases have been opened, more to follow
• Recruitment is increasing, towards adding 60,000 police officers by 2010
• The services of retiring or newly retired police officers are being extended to address immediate manpower needs
• Civillians will be hired for administrative work to free up officers for policing work
• Patrols have been intensified in crime-prone areas in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor Bharu and Penang