KUALA LUMPUR: The inspector-general of police believes that the proposed house arrest act needs to be fine-tuned to ensure its implementation is orderly and guarantees community safety.
Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said he understood that the law was proposed to solve prison overcrowding.
"According to the latest statistics, there are 87,000 inmates, but the capacity of prisons is only 74,000.
"This is an initiative by the Prisons Department to allow house arrest as an alternative punishment for certain offences," he said when contacted on Tuesday.
He said there were also suggestions that convicts who were sentenced to house arrest must wear tracking devices.
Razarudin said the police understood the problem and hoped that the proposal be studied and refined to ensure its smooth implementation.
"The the most important thing is that public interest, safety and order is guaranteed
"The police is committed to cooperate (in drafting the law), especially in engagement sessions with the Prisons Department and Home Ministry to ensure that the interests of all parties, especially the general public, are protected," he said.
Razarudin said the home minister had informed him that the house arrest bill would be tabled in next year's parliamentary session.
It was reported that about 28,000 offenders could be considered for house arrest if the bills is passed, which would reduce overcrowding in prisons.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail was quoted saying that the bill was not applicable to those under remand.
Saifuddin had said the number of prisoners in the country was 87,000.
He hoped the house arrest plan would address overcrowding in prisons.
Saifuddin said prisoners under house arrest would be fitted with monitoring devices.