Introduction
The new Kuala Lumpur Police Chief Commissioner Datuk Amar Singh explained recently to the Malaysian Digest that the crime index has reduced by 45 percent since 2009, however property crime like house break-ins and snatch theft makes up the bulk with about 80 percent of the crime rate, which the force have been focusing on.It is also said that the public’s fear of crime jumped to 80% from 70% last year, with many citing snatch thefts and break-ins as the most feared (Shergaran, 2016). Previously, the government launched National Key Result Area Program (NKRA) in 2009, under the Government Transformation Program (GTP) which is a continuation of the Safe City Programme since 2004 established by the Department of Town and Country Planning Department, Ministry of Housing and Local Government (MHLG) to ensure cities are free from all physical and social threats.The aspiration of NKRA is to improve public safety across Malaysia where the targeted actions focused on reducing crime index especially street crimes. Since its implementation in January 2010, NKRA has demonstrated positive outcomes by delivering a 39.7 percent drop in street crime. Despite the significant percentage drop in street crime, dozens of complaints and police reports have been made about snatch thefts and property break-ins in Sri Permai Resident. As the president of Sri Permai Resident, I would like to address the concerned matter and discuss the many ways we can prevent such crime from happening in this resident. In this write up, I will also discuss what the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) can take to combat crimes in Sri Permai Resident.
Snatch Thefts and Break-Ins
Snatch thefts incidents are notoriously known to happen in most Sout East Asia countries (OSAC, 2015).The most common modus operandi in snatch thefts incidents is where two thieves on a mototrcycle speed from behind the vistim, and the passenger on the back of the motorcycle snatches the purse or valueables such as mobile phone from the victim. Another famous modus operandi is the thieves conducted snatch thefts while leaning out of the passenger side of moving vehicles. Often in most cases, the thieves will prey on lonely motorists with valueables visible who are stuck in traffic or stopped at a traffic light. The usual scenario is that a pair of thieves on a motorcycle use a crowbar or hammer to smash the window of the car, grab the valueables, and speed right off. These types of thefts can occur at all hours and often in front of large groups of witnesses, even in upscale neighbourhoods frequented by expatriates(Shergaran, 2016).Snatch thieves choose their victim carefully. They prey on those who are alone and those who are distracted. Women and senior citizens are especially susceptible as they may be unable to defend themselves, but men walking or jogging alone have also been targeted (OSAC, 2015). Often the victims are seriously injured or even killed after falling and being dragged by thieves in cars or on motorcycles. More recently, thieves carrying knives have slashed and cut the victim in order to shock the victim into immediately releasing valuables.
According to the OSAC (2015), residential break-ins do occur and are becoming more frequent in single family homes. These break-ins generally do not result in confrontations or injuries to the occupants. In some remote cases, it is reported that some burglars have entered when occupants were home, tied the residents up, threatened them with weapons. Reports on property break-ins usually escalete during festive seasons and holidays. It is during these times the properties or houses in Sri Permai Resident are most vulnerable to break-ins where the houses or properties’ owner left for vacation or festivals celebration.One of the major contributing factors that lead to the increasing and alarming snatch theft and break-ins incidents in Sri Permai Resident is the lack of awareness and the little precautions and security measures taken by the residents before leaving their homes empty for some period of time.
Preventions on Snatch Thefts
As mention above, snatch thieves prey on those who are alone and those who are distracted. To avoid becoming the victim of a purse snatching, be alert and aware of your surrounding. Avoid extended conversations on mobile devices while walking around the neighbourhood, which ocasionally distracts one’s attention away from potentially threatening situation. Look out for suspicious behaviour around you. If someone asks for direction, be polite and keep a safe distance. You might never know if the person asking is pretending or for real. Always take precaution. It is safer for the ladies to walk at an open places. Try to avoid taking shortcuts through deserted and secluded areas.
Never give a chance for snatch thieves to strike. When walking by the street, pedestrians should walk facing traffic and keep a close eye on any vehicular traffic, particularly motorcycles. This way, you will know who is coming towards you and you might have just enough time to prepare yourself to duck any potential life threatening snatch theft incident(Ranck-Buhr & Larkin, 2009). If possible, try to walk on the part of the sidewalk that is away from the curb. Avoid any potentially dangerous areas such as poorly lit streets, shortcuts, and narrow alleys to walk to particularly at night. Nevertheless, be aware that attacks may occur anywhere.
The ladies in particular, are reminded not to use longer straps for their purse or handbag. This is to prevent snatch thieves to snatch the victim from behind and may cause injury to them. If you have to wear one, purses or shoulder bags should be closed and tucked under the arm. Fasten any closures on the bag and do not wrap the strap around your arm, shoulder or body. There have been cases where people have been injured or even worst, killed by being pulled to the ground by their handbag straps as the thieves sped off. Besides, the ladies are advised to wear minimal jewelleries when going outside. Plan your outfit. When going jogging or grocery shopping, it would not be necessary to wear excessive or expensive jewelleries. This will only attract attention and paint a huge bulleye on you from the thieves point of view.
It is always useful to know how to defend yourselves. Take the initiative to learn martial arts or self defense. It might come in handy. Apart from keeping our body fit, it might save our life too someday. It is so easy to learn basic self defense nowadays. You can always look it up online or buy book about self defence such as How to Survive the Most Critical 5 Seconds of Your life by Tim Larkin and Chris Ranck-Buhr at the bookstore. Take time to practice what you have learnt from the internet or books. Above all, when the situation happens, keep calm and react appropriately. If you find yourselves in any situation of confrontation, think clearly and evaluate the situation. Only put your knowledge of self defense at test when it is desperately necessary. Studies shows that, people who know martial art tend to be involved in violence physical confrantation more often than the people who don’t (Ranck-Buhr & Larkin, 2009).Their knowledge of self defense somehow boost their confidence hence the likely of them to be involve in violence is high. If the thief is armed, do not engage in a physical fight as it will increase the risk of you being injured or killed.If your purse or bag or valueables are snatched, report the incident as soon as possible to the police. It is very crucial for you to keep your composure and try to record and memorise anyparticulars or details about the incident and the snatch thieves. For example, record the registration number of the the vehicle used in the incident, the physical features of the thieves like height, build, skin tone, scars, tattoo, piercing, and hairstyles. The more details you give to the police, the easier for them to track the thieves.
Preventions on Break-ins
In most break-ins cases, the occupants of the house are not at home(OSAC, 2015). One of the many factors that makes burglars running rampage in Sri PermaiResident is due to the carelessness of house and property owners. The residents of Sri Permai are so used to peaceful and safe environment that we took the safety precautions of keeping our home safe lightly. So the first thing to do is to fix grilles and to get reliable deadbolt locks. You might want to invest on some quality doors such as bullet proof door and windows. In some isolated cases, there have been reports about burglars prising grilles open. Installing some security gadgets around our houses’ compound may help in apprehending the situation. For example, house-owners can install some CCTV around their houses compound. Installing a burglar alarm can be useful in reducing the risk of forced entry. Besides that, installing burglar alarm also adds in to the effectiveness of the police response.
The next precaution that should be taken is to avoid providing any telltale signs of your absence. Should the residents of Sri Permai go on holiday or outstation, they should inform their neighbours. They should ask their neighbour to collect their newspapers and mail. Uncollected mail and newspapers gives the impression that the house occupants are away. It is always better to inform the police when you are going outstation. The residents can fill in and submit the “Going Back Home” form that can be downloaded online from the Royal Malaysia Police website to inform the police about their absence and empty houses. The police will then be on the lookout and send police cars to patrol and safeguard the neighbourhood. Before leaving their homes, the residents should make sure the areas outside their house, especially the porch and the backyard, are well lit. A brightly-lit area deters a burglar from breaking into thehouse.
Police Strategies and Tactics to Combat Snatch Thefts and Break-ins
According toBruce (2008), crimes occur when a motivated offender encounters a suitable target in a time and place where there is an absence of capable guardianship. This essentially gives police three avenues for tactical development; remove the motivated offender through appehension tactics, remove the suitable target through terget hardening tactics, and supply the capable guardianship through suppression tactics.
Apprehension tactics work best when there is a reasonable chance of identifying and capturing the offender (Bruce, 2008). This is where the police need the residents of Sri Permai Resident to work hand in hand to report any suspisious activity in the neighbourhood. It is very crucial that the victims who had confrontation with the offender to give specific and as many details as possible of the incidents to the police. This crucial information will help the police tremendously in narrowing down the suspect. Apart from the information of suspect discription from the victims, the police need to follow their evidence. Physical evidence, such as DNA, fingerprints, shoe prints, voice recordings, or video recordings can be matched to offenders through standard investigative techniques. Other apprehension tactics that can be used in combating snatch thefts and break-ins are Rapid Response, Planned Response and Decoys. In rapid response, knowing the existance of a pattern, the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) can prioritise response to calls for service that may snatch thefts or break-ins incidents, hoping to catch the offender on the scene. When any security alarm goes off or if there is any report of suspicious activity in the targeted area, dispatchers are instructed to immediately dispatch and officers are instructed to rapidly respond.
According to Bruce (2008), Suppression Tactics aim to scare the offenders away without necessarily catching them. Suppression Tactics usually focus on patrolling. There are many type of patroling tactics that the RMP can use in combating break-ins and snatch thefts such as Saturation Patrol, Directed Patrols, and Phantom Car or Scarecrow Car tactic. Saturation patrol means tripling or quadrupling the normal patrol presence in Sri Permai Resident. With the increasing numbers of police patroling around Sri Permai Resident, snatch thefts and property break-insincident in this area will decrease dramatically. This tactic is proven succesful where major international hotels experience a low incidence of crime as a result from having adequate security(Shergaran, 2016). Sri Permai Resident can achieve the peaceful and safe environment once again if the security in this area is tightened. Directed patrols involve instructing police officers to visit certain locations at certain times. The Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) has improved their service recently by adding an online registration form for people who will be leaving their home for a certain period of time to notify the RMP about their absence. In their absence, patrol units will be instructed to patrol and safeguard the registered property while the owner is away. Meanwhile, the Phantom Car or Scarecrow Car tactic aims to scare the offender by parking unused police patrol cars at a high-crime location, hoping to fool offenders into believing police is present.
Target Hardening Tactics ia a viable option for patterns in which the type of victim or target plays a larger role than the offender or location(Bruce, 2008). It works best when potential targets can be easily identified and contacted. One of the most suitable tactic from the Target Hardening Tactics that suits our Malaysian culture best is the Community Organisation Tactic. Community Organisation Tactic uses the resources of “neighbourhood watches” and other similar groups to spread the word, identiry potential suspects, and otherwise watch out for each other. As an example, in this midst of raging rate of snatch thefts and break-ins in Sri Permai Resident, the police agency can present at local community meetings, encouraging residents to lock their doors, watch their neighbours’ houses, and report suspicious activity. It is also important that the police to remind the community to not take matters into their own hand if in any situation of confrontation with the offender.The tactic is inline with the Kuala Lumpur Police Chief Commissioner Datuk Amar Singhsuggestion where he suggested for the police and the public to work together through the setting up of a networking chat group between the police, residents and Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF), as well as a Safe City Programme initiative to guard hotspot areas (Shergaran, 2016).
Conclusion
In conclusion, public awareness on the worrying numbers of percentage of snatch thefts and break-ins cases in Malaysia should be instill and advertise through media.With this awareness, it is hoped that the public will be more aware of their own safety and has more knowledge on how to apprehend any crime incidents more intelligently. It is also hoped that the strong cooperation between the public and the authority (Royal Malaysia Police) can help to reduce the crime index in Malaysia in general.
Bibliography
Bruce, C. W. (2008). Police strategies and sactics: What every analyst should know. New York, USA: Burns Press
Ranck-Buhr, C., & Larkin, T. (2009). How to survie the most critical 5 seconds of your life. Los Angeles, USA: TFT Group
OSAC. (2015, 3 April). Malaysia 2015 crime and safety report. Retrieved from https://www.osac.gov/pages/ContentReportDetails.aspx?cid=17215
Shergaran, L. (2016, 7 June). 7 to 8 police reports daily on snatch thefts in KL, Malaysians need to look out for each other to overcome this crime. Retrieved from http://www.malaysiandigest.com/features/615137-7-to-8-police-reports-daily-on-snatch-thefts-in-kl-malaysians-need-to-look-out-for-each-other-to-overcome-this-crime.html