Youths to be cops’ eyes and ears

People-friendly agenda: Comm Chuah inspecting the guard of honour during the handover of duty ceremony at the state police headquarters.

GEORGE TOWN: Penang’s new police chief Comm Datuk Wira Chuah Ghee Lye has expressed his intention to increase police engagement with the community.

He also plans to increase crime prevention activities in schools and institutes of higher learning to teach the young to be the eyes and ears of the police.

“As Penang police chief, I have four targets.

“They are to control and reduce crime in Penang, improve service delivery of police to the community, strengthen integrity and discipline among the police and maintain peace and security in the state,” he told a press conference at the state police headquarters yesterday.

Comm Chuah, 59, took over as state police chief from Comm Datuk Abdul Ghafar Rajab who would be reporting to Bukit Aman as the Federal Integrity and Standard Compliance Department director.

He was the Malacca police chief from end of 2010 to February last year.

He was then appointed the Federal Crime Prevention and Community Safety Department deputy director (Strategy Planning) in Bukit Aman.

Comm Abdul Ghafar said violent crime cases in Penang dropped from 1,213 in 2015 to 1,077 cases last year while property crime dipped from 5,486 to 5,083 cases.

He said narcotics cases, however, increased from 15,483 in 2015 to 16,746 last year while commercial crime went up from 789 to 1,607 cases.

“A total of 262,882 traffic summonses were issued last year compared to 219,285 summonses in 2015,” he said in his speech.

Bukit Aman Management Department director Comm Datuk Seri Zulkifli Abdullah witnessed the handover of duty ceremony yesterday.

The handover of duty of Penang Perkep chairman Datin Noor Fajariah Abdul Rahman to Datin Wira Betty Kang Poh Chin was witnessed by Bukit Aman Management Department Police Family Association (Perkep) chairman Datin Seri Noraini Abd Jalil.