KOTA KINABALU: Strong police presence in the city's central business district here has helped to allay public fears following two recent snatch theft cases.
Kota Kinabalu MP Datuk Chan Foong Hin said police efforts within the city limits have ensured no major crime incidents have taken place over the last 50 days following the widely viral videos of the two robberies involving two women victims.
Chan, who is Deputy Plantations and Commodities Minister, said that numerous operations by the police and patrols in the "hot spots" have effectively helped in creating a feeling of security among the people.
"The perception of having a safe city is important. People must feel safe," he said when he launched the Centralised Walkabout campaign here with the Kota Kinabalu City police.
In thanking the police for their efforts to arrest the criminals as well as conducting operations, Chan said that such measures have helped the public, tourists as well as businesses in the area to feel safe.
"I urge people to work with police as partners and share information with them," he said, adding that police were friendly and need not be perceived as stern and unapproachable enforcers of the law who issue compounds.
Chan presented 10 canopies, 11 tables, 20 chairs and 10 bicycles to Kota Kinabalu police for the Centralised Walkabout Ops that was launched at Gaya Street here on Sunday (March 31).
Kota Kinabalu police chief Asst Comm Zaidi Abdullah said the various police operations and patrols focused on all areas from malls to back alleys in the last three months.
Police had arrested an 18-year-old suspect after he robbed a woman of RM50 in a back alley of Gaya Street here and a 29-year-old man who assaulted and robbed a woman in the back alleys of the area. Both incidents happened in February this year.
Chan, meanwhile, said that the heightened police presence also saw fewer street children in the town here.
"You don't see many of them now, police cannot detain them if no crime is committed. I believe the police presence had indirectly kept these children out of sight," he said, referring to the street children, who are undocumented Pelahus (sea gypsies) who are sometimes seen begging from motorists at traffic light intersections in town.
Though efforts by the Sabah government have been done to help these street children by putting them into temporary shelters and teaching them basic living skills in Kota Kinabalu last year, some of the children are still seen on the streets in town.
Chan said it was challenging to provide sustainable welfare assistance for these children.
"It cannot be resolved within a short span of time," he said.
