KOTA KINABALU: Sabah recorded a 16 percent increase in the number of ccriminal cases reported, the highest spike in the country, State police commissioner Datuk Ramli Din said.
Ramli, however, said the steep increase in crime cases did not mean the police were not doing anything to keep the state safe.
“It has been my instruction for all district police headquarters to receive and investigate any report regardless how minor the offence is.
“Even if it is about stealing oil palm fruit, we need to entertain the matter and open an investigation paper. That is why Sabah has the highest increase,” he said.
Ramli was speaking to about 60 former policemen at the Have Ex-Policeman Serve as Neighbourhood Safety Leaders programme at the State police headquarters in Kepayan, here.
Although crime cases were high, he noted that Sabah’s case solving rate was the second highest with more than 60 per cent cracked and completed.
He added theft and housebreaking contributed to the crime index, adding these two offences are usually related to drugs.
“I look at drug problems in Sabah seriously and I always instruct my men to be aggressive in the operation. All district narcotic officers have to go to the ground regularly and I cannot accept if their report is zero every day.
“This does happen sometimes but rarely. If there is zero arrest, I will ask for explanation. The narcotic team is not like criminal investigation department, where we wait for police report to act.
“As narcotic officers, we have to move and go (look) for (drug activities). If we don’t go, we won’t find anything,” he stressed.
On the effort to control misuse of firearms, Ramli said police would focus on homemade gun or locally known as ‘bakakuk’, which is rampantly used in Sabah and Sarawak.
“There have been many incidents where bakakuk has led to death and it is also used to threaten people. We are aggressive in identifying bakakuk owners and seizing the illegal firearms,” he said.
He noted police has identified a holder of a license to sell ammunitions, who has been selling bullets to bakakuk owners.
“The person has a shop in Ranau and his license will be revoked,” he said, adding police had seized about 60 bakakuks this year.
In the engagement event, Ramli also shared current security development in Sabah to ex policemen while taking note on their views on ways to tackle crime activities and boost safety.
The programme under the National Blue Ocean Strategy was aimed at establishing cooperation and making police retirees as the eyes and ears for the police in their respective residential areas.
“We will continue to work and ask for guidance from the retirees, who have 20 and 40 years of experience in the police force. Many of them are still healthy and active in community service.
“We need each other because once a policeman, always a policeman,” said Ramli.
He therefore urged police retirees to register as Volunteer Smartphone Patrol members so they could immediately channel information of a crime incident to the police.