SIBU, Oct 6 — Sibu, which was once known as the land of the underworld gangs, managed to reduce its crime rate drastically so far this year.

Until yesterday, the number of crimes recorded were 827 cases as compared to 1,240 cases in the same period last year, a drop of 413 cases or 33.31 per cent.

Sibu Police Chief ACP Mohd Kamal Kordi attributed the achievement on the increasing awareness of the community in crime prevention apart from the continuous efforts by the police in combating crime.

“People are more alert these days. They would report any suspicious activities at their neighbourhood to us,” he said.

Mohd Kamal told reporters this after the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) ceremony between Sibu police and business community on SafeCam Partnership programme here today.

Also present were Bukit Aman Crime Prevention and Community Safety Department head SAC Gan Tian Kee.

Mohd Kamal also said that 30 per cent of crime cases in Sibu were solved with the help of closed-circuit televison (CCTV) cameras.

Violent crimes recorded in Sibu so far were 153 cases as compared to 217  cases last year while there were 663 cases related to property related crime as compared to 1,006 cases during the same time last year.

Meanwhile Gan said overall, Sarawak police achieved about 17 per cent in the reduction of crime rate, higher than the key performance index of five per cent set by Bukit Aman.

Under the MoU, the police would patrol the areas installed with CCTV cameras, hold talks with SafeCam community and provide signages or stickers, which project the cooperation between them, the neighbourhood associations and private sectors.

The business community would also install CCTV cameras, give access to the  police to the image recorded by the cameras and keep the recorded images for at least 30 days at two megapixels resolution.

The business community involved in the MoU signing were Medan Hotel Sdn Berhad and Li Hua Hotel of Pahlawan commercial centre; Gorgeous Trading Sdn Bhd; Medan Hotel Sdn Bhd of Wong King Huo Road; Li Hua Hotel of Long Bridge Commercial Centre; Everwin Supermarket and Farley (Sibu) Sdn Bhd.

Total numbers of CCTV cameras provided by the companies were 574. — Bernama