KUALA LUMPUR: The 1Masjid 1Polis (1M1P) programme will be expanded throughout the country starting in March in order to curb crimes and to ensure safety around mosques, according to police.
To date, 6,047 mosques registered under Terengganu and Pahang Islamic Religious Councils have implemented the programme since 2012.
Bukit Aman Crime Prevention and Community Safety Department (JPJKK) director Datuk Seri Rosli Ab Rahman said the department would appoint a liaison officer in each mosque and provide a police patrol box to highlight the presence of police.
The department will also provide a space in the mosque’s notice board to display information and news about policing work.
“So far the 1M1P programme is seen as successful in curbing crimes such as stealing money from the donation box and motorcycles in areas around the mosque,” he told Bernama in an exclusive interview recently.
He said in an effort to ensure the success of the community programme, police will be making some improvements to ensure a safe environment and made it easier for the community to channel information on crimes as well as raising the people’s confidence in the police.
Rosli added through the implementation of the programme, a liaison officer will conduct visits twice a month to obtain feedback on mosque security on incidents of crimes, random patrols and to hold reaching out sessions with senior police officers.
Meanwhile, police personnel from the mobile patrol vehicle (MPV) and motorcycle patrol (URB) units were also ordered to stop by the mosques in their patrol area to perform prayers so as to bring the police force closer to the people, he said.
According to him, such programmes would be extended to other places of worship including churches and temples.
“Police are also conducting regular patrols and have installed the police boxes in other places of worship but have not appointed a liaison officer,” he said.
Earlier, there were several reports of crimes taking place around the mosque with the latest being on Jan 28 when a man was arrested for allegedly trying to burn a mosque in Chendering, Kuala Terengganu with matches.
Rosli said the 1M1P programme was among the initiatives of the Royal Malaysian Police to be closer to the community to curb crimes and improve community security, thereby reducing crimes and increasing security perception.
“Through the community programme, I find that the people’s perception of the police is getting more positive... Previously, people tend to be afraid and uncomfortable when the police are around but since we implement the programme, we noticed that the people also wanted to be friendly with the police,” he said.
He added, last year the JPJKK, which was set up on July 1, 2014, had implemented 399,429 community policing programmes and activities nationwide through collaborative networking with communities, government agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as collaborating partners.
This includes Aman Wanita squad (Amanita) programme which emphasised the relationship and cooperation between policewomen with housewives where 79,862 people registered as friends of Amanita and created school liaison officers for 2,408 secondary schools and 7,772 primary schools nationwide.
“We also work with a number of private companies like Shell and Petron petrol stations to create 942 ‘Go-To-Safety-Points’ by making the petrol station as a safe place for crime victims to get the initial assistance while waiting for the police to arrive,” he said. — Bernama
