PETALING JAYA, June 25 — Crime watchdog MyWatch threatened today to reveal more damning information of improper police practices if Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIGP) Datuk Seri Bakri Zinin fails to clarify previous allegations of crime data manipulation.

The group reminded Bakri of a letter it had released in February this year which showed that he had signed off on crime statistics that were significantly higher than the police’s publicly released figures.

The October 13, 2011 letter, inked by Bakri who was then federal CID chief, detailed that a total of 17,882 cases of snatch theft and robbery without firearms were recorded between January and October 2011 while 43,792 cases of burglary and house break-ins were recorded in the same period.

The police’s published figures, however, only showed a crime index of 7,324 cases for snatch theft and robbery without firearms and 30,200 cases of burglary and house break-ins.

“Bakri Zinin, who was then federal CID director, denied the statistics MyWatch revealed, which is signed by himself... saying it is an internal circular and MyWatch manipulated his statistics therefore he’ll do a press conference later to clarify,” the crime watchdog wrote its statement.

“However, few months passed and he has been promoted as Deputy IGP yet he still failed to do the press conference to clarify the number which we believe all Malaysians would want to know as well,” it added.

MyWatch said that as the person who signed and circulated the statistics at the time, Bakri should take full responsibility by clarifying the matter.

The DIGP should also explain why certain crimes are not included in the crime index and whether the same exclusion is practised by Interpol and police forces of other neighbouring countries, the group said.

MyWatch warned that it was in possession of evidence showing that the police have been using an “incorrect formula” in classifying cases as “solved”, and urged Bakri to come clean on the matter.

The group also claimed to have details of the number of police personnel who have been detained or dismissed between 2010 and 2012 for drug offences and threatened to release the figures if the police do not unveil them within a week.

The police and the government have been battling hard against the public’s negative perception of their crime-fighting efforts, particularly in the face of the numerous cases of lock-up deaths and the apparent spike in street crime.

While official crime data have repeatedly shown a dip in crime numbers, reports in the media and on social media sites appear to show the complete opposite, further fuelling suspicion that the official statistics have been manipulated to paint a rosy picture.