Crime index ratio dropped in 2017, but KL still has most cases

KUALA LUMPUR: The national crime index ratio in 2017 saw a drop to 309.7 cases per 100,000 population compared to 355.2 cases the previous year, says the Statistics Department.

Despite the overall reduction, six states registered crime rates above the national average last year, with the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur topping the list.

The Federal Territories recorded a crime index ratio of 716.9, which was double than that of the national figure.

The other five states which had crime rates above the national average were Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Melaka, Penang and Kedah. However, despite being above the average, the states’ crime index ratio nevertheless showed a decrease from the previous year.

After Kuala Lumpur, Selangor had the highest crime index ratio at 408.6, followed by Negri Sembilan (356.6); Melaka (339.2), Penang (318.3) and Kedah (315.3).

Sabah had the lowest crime index ratio at 157.7 in 2017.

The department said figures obtained from the police showed that violent crime and property crime registered a drop in 2017 compared to the previous year.

Violent crime dropped by 4.3 per cent to 21,366 cases while property crime decreased by 13.6 per cent to 77,802 cases.

Two-thirds of violent crime cases are robbery (14,128 cases), followed by acts of bodily harm (5,024) and rape (1,835); while more than half of the property crimes are vehicle theft (42,160 cases).

On drug cases, four states, namely Perak, Melaka, Sarawak and Perlis, continued to show a decrease in the number of drug addicts over the past three years.

Conversely, four states showed an increasing trend in the number of drug addicts during the same period, namely Kelantan (3,700), Terengganu (2,044), Sabah (1,047) and Federal Territory of Labuan (92).

Statistics showed that more than half of drug abuse cases involved methamphetamine — either in crystalline or pill form — followed by opiate.

Marijuana abuse comprised only 4 per cent of the total cases.

The department said there was also a slowdown in the number of investigation papers opened by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in 2017, with a decline of 12.4 per cent to 863 cases.

During the same period, the number of arrests made by the MACC declined 6.4 per cent.