http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/309498/null
Malaysia cops teach fresh skills to Thais
CSD plans community policing model in South
- Published: 27/08/2012 at 01:44 AM
- Newspaper section: News
PERLIS, MALAYSIA: The Crime Suppression Division
(CSD) plans to propose that the Royal Thai Police adopt a "community
approach" as an additional method to combat the southern unrest.
Malaysia has claimed success in implementing this approach in Perlis
state where community police officers (CPOs) are sent into communities
to establish a rapport with locals and get them to cooperate with police
in fighting and deterring crime.Azmi Bin Hamid, head of the public relations department of the Perlis police, said the state police had been pioneering the community policing project for about six years now.
A large number of local residents have become members of the project, which is in effect in about 60% of the state, said Mr Hamid. Cooperation between police and locals has led to the crime rate plunging by about 50%, he said.
"To win the trust of the locals, it's most important that the CPOs take off their police hats and try to integrate into the communities as much as possible," he said.
The Perlis police only last month learned that a similar idea of community policing was also being tested in Satun province.
They then invited the Thai police to Perlis to learn from their experience, said Mr Hamid.
He told a group of Thai CSD police visiting Perlis last week that he was confident the Malaysian community policing model could be applied in the Satun project as both Perlis and Satun have a lot in common, such as culture, traditions and religion.
A lesson learned from the Perlis project was that police had to spend a great deal of time associating with the residents regularly to win their hearts and support, said Pol Col Thinakorn Rangmat, chief of the CSD's Subdivision 6, who led about 30 police officers on the Perlis study tour.
What's more, the police would have to form a network of fellow police officers and volunteers who should also be equipped with sufficient means of communication among each other, he said.
This way, news and information could be transmitted actively and promptly among them, said Col Thinakorn.
"As suggested by the Perlis police, I strongly believe the community policing idea will be applicable to the effort to contain the violence in the three Muslim-dominated provinces in the deep South as well," he said.
One year ago, Pol Col Thinakorn started piloting a community policing project in Hua Thang community in Satun's Muang district and he said the preliminary outcome of the project had been satisfactory.
The key to the success of the community policing programme was to establish trust between the authorities and members of the community, said Central Investigation Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Pongpat Chayaphan.
He said the community policing programme also had helped reduce the level of distrust between people and authorities and secured working cooperation among them.
Conversely, distrust between police and locals is the key to success for insurgents and terrorists, Pol Lt Gen Pongpat said, adding that several countries had adopted the community policing practice to combat crime, other social problems and even terrorism.
In Thailand, he said, a proposal would be made to the national police chief to consider implementing community policing more broadly to help combat the southern unrest.
The latest spate of violence resurfaced in the deep South in 2004.
Since then more than 4,600 people have been killed and nearly 9,000 people wounded in the region, according a report by the army.
credit news to Bangkok post .
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