SHAH ALAM: Most suspects in cases of child abuse due to neglect in Selangor this year have been found to be caretakers, Selangor police says.
Selangor police chief Comm Datuk Hussein Omar Khan (pic) said, at the launch of the Child Interview Centre 2 (CIC2) here Wednesday (Nov 13), that statistics from January till October showed that a total of 387 child victims of abuse.
The cases, he added, mostly stemmed from neglect by their caretakers or guardians.
“Caretakers make up most of the suspects linked to abuse stemming from neglect, with 89 people in that time period.
“Second are birth parents and teachers with 78 suspects each. Step parents make up the third group of suspects at 69 people,” he said.
September saw the most cases this year, with 56 reported.
Age group-wise, most victims were aged below one year old, 139 victims.
On the launch of the new centre, Comm Hussein said that Selangor has a need for additional CIC due to the population size.
The more comfortable environment would enable children to open up more to trained investigators during interviews as opposed to the more traditional setting of a police station.
“The parents or guardians will wait outside. Only the child and the interviewer will allowed into the room for the process.
“There are tools that will be used to allow a child to better explain to the interviewer what had happened,” he said.
