GEORGE TOWN, July 13 — The public’s fear of crime will be used to draw up prevention strategies to fight criminals. 

Lead investigator for the study on public perception of safety Associate Prof P. Sundramoorthy said the crime perception indicator (CPI), when completed, would be used to grade enforcement agencies’ performance in protecting the people.

“It is a world’s first. Similar studies have been conducted but they only rate the fear towards the crime,” he said.

“What makes CPI unique is that we even come out with crime prevention strategies and how to strengthen law enforcement, especially the police, in reducing crime and the fear of society towards crime.”

The first step of the study begins after Hari Raya by sampling 5,000 to 10,000 people from various organisations besides individuals.

It is sponsored by the Performance Management Delivery Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department tasked with reducing crime under the national key result areas.

The study is expected to be completed by year-end and the findings can be used by early next year, he said. 

“You don’t have to experience crime to fear crime. The perception on the fear of crime is based on opinion, what they read or hear. Whether it is real or perceived, both have a major impact on society.”

He said the questions in the study included “Do you feel safe?” and “How do you feel about the crime index? Has it decreased, increased or been maintained over the last five years?”.

Sundramoorthy, 54, is an associate professor of criminology and has been a faculty member at Universiti Sains Malaysia school of social science since 1994. He also served as a Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation executive member. 

Sundramoorthy was prompted to carry out the study because he felt the real situation was not reflected in statistics provided by the police claiming the crime index had reduced since 2009.

He said the police crime index failed to create a “feel safe, feel good” atmosphere among the people.

“Public perception on the efficiency of law enforcement is negative,” he said, adding that this apparently discouraged Malaysians from reporting crime to the authorities, which in turn had shown an artificial decrease in crime rates.

He said with the reputation of enforcement agencies being tarnished by the high graft index and charges of corruption against law enforcers, public trust in the country’s legal and justice systems was rapidly waning.

Sundramoorthy said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, for instance, had to be independent in order to discharge its duties effectively.

He said all cases of corruption must be investigated and dealt with seriously and swiftly without fear or favour, even if they implicated a big fish or small fry.

“All good work on crime prevention will be meaningless due to corruption,” he said.

He said social disorder had also created a negative perception of the effectiveness of authority.

“The way law enforcement and criminal justice agencies conduct themselves and carry out their duties plays an important role in bolstering public perception on how diligent they are.”

Sundramoorthy said the public should realise crime was colour blind, committed by people of all races, religions and ages.

He said statistics showed offences like murder, assault and sexual assault were often committed by person or persons who knew their victims.

“There is no such thing as crime is only committed by certain ethnic groups or communities,” he said.