TUESDAY-18TH DECEMBER 2007-800 General Operations personnel to occupy new complex next April

800 General Operations personnel to occupy new complex next April
KOTA KINABALU:
All the 800 General Operations Force officers and personnel will be transferred to their own complex in Kinarut by April next year. Inspector General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan, said the RM149 million GOF Complex would include staff quarters, administration blocks, a field, clinic, mosque and several few shops. “To date, it is about 66 per cent completed and we were told that all will be done by April 2008. The GOF officers and personnel will then be placed there,” he told reporters after a briefing at the Kepayan Police Headquarters, yesterday. In addition to this, Musa said works are also being carried out to enhance the Police Headquarters here. “We (police) are expanding and we need more buildings to improve. It is part of enhancing the IPK (Police Headquarters),” he said. He disclosed that the Sabah’s crime rate showed an increase of 10 per cent with 75 per cent of these crimes being contributed by locals. Only 25 per cent of the crimes in Sabah are contributed by the foreigners, and most of their cases involved violent crimes, he said. “I was briefed by the Sabah Police Commissioner (Datuk Noor Rashid Ibrahim) on the crime situation here, and although it showed an increase in crimes such as gang robberies and house break-ins, certain cases showed a decrease. “The concentration of these crimes is at Tawau, Lahad Datu, Sandakan and here. In places where the volume of crime is higher, we hope the Sabah Police would concentrate in these four districts to reduce the crime rates,” he said. Despite the crime rate increase, Musa said the Sabah Police had, however, crippled several gangs and syndicates involved in electricity and telephone cable thefts, in which they had seized weapons from some of the groups. The Narcotics Unit had also scored several successes including intercepting attempts to smuggle in drugs into the State from neighbouring countries.
“One of our problems is when the smugglers illegally enter Sabah. This is where the police and other agencies can work together to carry out checks. If we detect drugs in anyone, we will charge them under the Dangerous Drug Act,” he said.
Touching on commercial crimes, Musa said there was a two per cent increase and the Commercial Crime Department had been directed to investigate the matter. “Some of these crimes are related to land deals, Short Messaging Services and even through the internet. We are on a lookout for such cases at all times,” he said.