Tuesday September 25, 2012

Home Ministry, police to implement benchmarking policing strategy

PETALING JAYA: The Home Ministry and Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) plans to implement the World Class Policing (WCP) strategy this year as part of the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) towards providing the public with better policing services.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein (pic) said WCP, a benchmarking exercise, would monitor inputs and outcomes of the local police in comparison with the police forces in countries like the United Kingdom, United States, Japan and Hong Kong.

He said WCP would serve as a guideline for top police officers and policy makers as to what should be improved and which key areas to be prioritised.

“We'll adopt the best practices and discard outdated approaches to policing,” he said.

Hishammuddin noted that in 2011, police recorded a drop of 11.1 per cent in overall crime rate and a 39.7 per cent reduction in street crime.

“Furthermore, 2011 saw the satisfaction index of the public with regards to frontline services of the police soaring to 70.5 per cent, way above the 60 per cent target set,” he said.

He said other approaches that had been implemented to reduce the crime rate included focusing on 50 crime hotspots in several states and increasing collaboration with bodies like the People's Volunteer Corps (RELA), Civil Defence Department and municipal councils.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said all efforts were being done to achieve the target, especially after Malaysia was recognised as the most peaceful country in Southeast Asia as well as the 19th safest and peaceful country in the world by the Global Peace Index 2011.

In 2007, Malaysia was ranked 37th, but moved down to 38th in 2008.

“In a bid to achieve world-class policing standards this year, PDRM, with the assistance from the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) of the Prime Minister's Department, are in the midst of studying the possibility of formulating good practice guidelines for the police,” Ismail said.

He said among the objectives to achieve were reducing crime rates, speeding up response time and improving criminal investigations.

Apart from strengthening the force, the police have also forged cooperation, dubbed the Blue Ocean Strategy, with the armed forces in an effort to enhance national security and defence.

Kuala Lumpur is selected for the world-class policing pilot project as it aims to break into the top 20 in the “Most Livable City in the World” index by 2020.

Malaysia is presently number 79 out of 130 countries on the index by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

PDRM also made visits to six police forces, namely the Philadelphia Police, New York Police Department, Metropolitan Police London UK, Uppsala Police in Sweden, Hong Kong Police Force and the Singapore Police Force; and observed their operations first-hand.

The WCP laboratory agreed on four focus areas to achieve world-class policing standards.

News

Tuesday September 25, 2012

Home Ministry, police to implement benchmarking policing strategy