Crime Prevention - Public Should Take Initiative.

With either crime or the reporting of it in the media on the rise, it is incumbent upon the public to take preventive steps to curb it. We cannot entirely place the burden on the police and say "it's not our job." That is nonsense. We as members of the public are stakeholders in our nation and therefore have an equal responsibility in every sphere especially those which concern us directly, and the occurence of crime hits home closest and most dramatically and violently. The least that we could do is to see that the environment for easy commission of any sort of crime is not encouraged or nurtured by us. Remember criminals too are members of the public and come from families like yours and mine. If there are suspicious characters in your family or you suspect or even know that they are leading a life of crime then you are duty bound to turn them in, for your good as well as the welfare and security of the ordinary Joe.

While on the one hand you have leaders like the Information Minister Datuk Zainuddin Maidin who wants to hush up the reporting of crime and therefore lull us into a false sense of security, on the other we have the Deputy PM, Najib who is more forthright in his advice and urged Malaysians to reduce the opportunities that allow criminals to strike.

He said Malaysians should educate themselves on crime prevention by taking safety measures."When you walk, walk with friends and don't use back alleys or back staircases." He said studies showed that crime opportunities contributed to the rise in the crime rate.

Najib said he was saddened by the recent incident in Kuantan, Pahang where a 25-year-old salesgirl died from internal injuries when she tumbled down the stairs at the Berjaya Megamall shopping centre while grappling with a mugger believed to have been high on glue.

He also expressed his shock over incidents of sons murdering their fathers and mothers because of drugs.

Najib said everyone must play their role in fighting crime which is being shouldered by the police and the government.

He said the government has always been committed to reducing the crime rate and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi recently proposed installing more closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras as one of the anti-crime measures.

"But, above all, citizens must educate themselves by taking small measures (in crime prevention). We can actually prevent crime from happening," he said.

Quoting a report by The Economist that said Malaysia is in 36th place in quality of living, he said Malaysians could improve the ranking by making efforts to reduce crimes.

So folks don't take things too easy on the security front and beware the next victim may be YOU!