PETALING JAYA: There are not enough non-lethal weapons such as tasers in the police’s arsenal for more of its members to use, says Bukit Aman.
Bukit Aman Crime Prevention and Community Safety Department director Commissioner Datuk Wan Hassan Wan Ahmad (pic), who agreed that tasers are highly effective in defusing a hostile situation with aggressors, said tasers are issued mainly to personnel who go on duty at crime hotspots as they are in limited quantities in police armouries.
He said to address the shortage, police will seek funds from the government next year to increase the supply of tasers and bullet-proof vests for the police force.
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“I will be attending a meeting in Penang this week with other senior police officers and will issue a directive that police personnel, especially those attached to the patrol car and motorcycle patrol units on duty at high-risk zones, be provided with bullet-proof vests to ensure their safety,” he told The Star.
On Feb 15, four policemen aged between 20 and 50 were injured during a standoff for several hours with a 32-year-old man at Taman Seri Astana in Sungai Petani.
The suspect, a religious school teacher who was armed with two machetes he had used to attack the cops, had refused to give himself up despite police firing warning gunshots and firemen attempting to disarm him with water jets.
In self-defence, police opened gunfire to subdue the man. He was taken to hospital but died later.
On Sept 16 last year, a policeman was seriously injured after being attacked by a 35-year-old man he was pursuing in a drug case in Kanowit, Sibu division, Sarawak.
The suspect, who was armed with a machete and a hook knife, was eventually arrested after being shot in the leg.
On Aug 31 last year, two policemen were injured after being slashed with a machete by a 43-year-old drug user at a house in Teluk Intan, Perak, during an anti-drug operation.
Three weeks later, a policeman was wounded after being attacked with a pair of shears by a man he tried to subdue at Kampung Kijang Badang, Kota Baru.
Three months earlier on May 17, two policemen, both aged 22, were killed and another was injured by an intruder at the Ulu Tiram police station they were manning.
The intruder initially slashed and killed a cop with a machete before grabbing his service pistol and opening fire at the two other policemen.
A shootout ensued and the suspect, who was involved in militancy, was gunned down by another policeman who went to the aid of his colleagues.
