Sabah has most volunteer cops
Published on: Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: The number of Police Volunteer Reserve (PVR) personnel in the State is the highest compared to other states in the country but still way below the target of 5,000 personnel.Crime Prevention and Community Safety Department Director Dato' Rusli Ahmad said this means more efforts are needed to attract eligible citizens to become PVR if the target of 50,000 PVR nationwide is to be met."Since 2013, we have put a target of recruiting 5,000 new personnel every year until 2017.
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However, we only managed to get 8,100 nationwide. But this is really beyond our control. We ask people to join PVR but we cannot force them."Now the number stands at 18,000 personnel and we are still recruiting. I highly encourage the people to apply for PVR. Training will be provided and we only ask that you give the commitment to help prevent crime together. We want them to be part of us," he said.
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He admitted that it is quite difficult to fulfil the 50,000 target because of various issues such as allowances, time constraints on the part of the volunteers and other commitments.He said PVR services, even though on a volunteering basis, could actually help the force in a lot of ways.
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"Currently, we have about 118,000 police personnel nationwide. If we could have 50,000 volunteers and several thousand auxiliary police, can you imagine the impact it could bring to our crime prevention efforts?"Furthermore, we cannot recruit new police personnel every year. Crime fighting should be thought of as a shared responsibility between the police and the people," he said.He added that those wishing to apply for PVR must be between 18 and 58 years old with no criminal record. He also urged those with high academic qualification to apply.Sabah, he said is actually desperate for PVR because of its vast areas that need covering. Currently, the number of PVR personnel in the State stands at around 2,400 personnel.In the meantime, Rusli said the department is looking to amend and improve some of the roles and responsibilities of PVR personnel such as the type of training as well as the types of services that they can offer to the public.The training aspect of PVR, he said could also be revisited and revamped under the proposed amendments to the regulations since those were made in 1956 and had never been amended or improvised.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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