Lemak Lemang

Police discard doubts on SMS

Oct 2, 2006 10:08

The police have been skeptical about SMS as there have been a number of incidents where the short messaging system has been abused to spread rumors, disrupting law and order.

But yesterday, two of Malaysia's Inspectors of Police, one retired and the other the incumbent, had come out to endorse SMS as a way to fight crime. It was the first of its kind in Malaysia.

SJ Alert initiator Christopher Ng presenting a token of appreciation to IGP Musa Hassan for the offical launch of SJ Alert. Looking on is state legislator Lee Hwa Beng, who is IT-savvy... LensaPress photo by Jeff Ooi

That's because the residents have initiated a grassroot project using available technologies--Internet and SMS--as a self-help for crime prevention and community networking.

The USJ-Subang Jaya neighborhood, a suburb west of of Kuala Lumpur where I stay, is still fighting what we had been fighting for since 1999 using a community-run portal, USJ.com.my. It's a struggle against crime and an advocacy for crime prevention.

July 23, the USJ Residents Association (USJRA) grouped the residents together to hold a dialog with the Chief of the Subang Jaya District Police (picture below).


LensaPress photo by Jeff Ooi

As usual, the residents ranted their grievances, and the Police voiced their shortcomings in infrastructure and manpower, but promised to partner and support the residents in their grassroots initiatives in crime prevention.

Subsequently, Raymond Tan, the community activist who pioneered the Neighbourhood Watch Campaign in Malaysia, and with patronage from the local state legislator Lee Hwa Beng, organized a movie premiere to raise funds to purchase two patrol cars and four motorbikes, which had been donated to the District Police to beef up their patrol frequencies in the neighborhood.

The USJ-Subang Jaya grassroots initiatives moved a step further after that. The residents, led by Christopher Ng and Robert Chan, came up with their own SMS Alert system to jointly fight crime with the police, besides tackling issues affecting the local community.

The self-funded SMS alert system was very well-received, and to date, the service has about 3,000 registered members who reside in the area.

The effectiveness of the ad-hoc SMS alert system was put to the test in July this year when the Camry Gang, a group of bandits who used to terrorize the neighborhood in their stolen Toyota Camry, was alerted by the SMS Alert,cornered and shot at by the Police. A badly damaged Camry used by the Camry Gang was spotted and recovered by the {olice acting on further information received through this support group.

The success prompted the USJRA to take the initiative a step further. In mid-August, the fragmented grassroots initiatives were put on a collective platform via USJRA, an NGO (non-governmental organization) registered with the Registrar of Societies, and the residents carried out a soft launch for a full-fledged SMS Crime Alert service called the SJ Alert.

Legislator Lee also provided a seed fund of RM5,000 towards the crucial project take-off and the subsequent running of the service. This blogger has been honored to be an eye-witness to this noble deed.

Under the service, SJ Alert issues alerts via SMS to registered subscribers on crime, emergencies, disruption of services and even community events, covering a 3 x 12km area that supports some 75,000 households.

Yesterday saw the incumbent Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Musa Hassan (picture left) making himself available to officially launch the project.

This blogger was made to understand that former IGP Tun Haniff Omar (picture below), now a Board Member of the Genting Group who now resides in my neighborhood, has been instrumental in helping to connect the residents to the Malaysian Police HQ.

That is how communication technologies have been harnessed by the civil society for the common good.

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