Sentul emerges from the dark side, thanks to the police

The Sentul police have recorded many remarkable achievements over the years in changing the image of the district once notorious for criminal and gangland activities.

The numbers speak for themselves, with the crimes recorded in the Sentul district decreasing over the years, including a total of 1,139 cases recorded as of last Sunday this year compared to 2,513 cases for the whole of 2019.

Also, for the same period, Sentul saw only 10 murders with the rest being unarmed gang robbery, extortion and vehicle thefts.

Sentul Police Chief, ACP S. Shanmugamoorthy Chinniah said the outcome is due to the ‘2E’ or environment-and-education, approach adopted by the district police.

Shanmugamoorthy who has been helming the district police over the last two years strongly believes that educating people on crime prevention and creating awareness of recent criminal activities in the neighbourhood are vital to combating crime.

For Sentul's top cop, the 2E approach starts with the members of his own force before it goes to the 1.3 million people who live in the district which also covers Kepong and Jinjang.

"There has to be a good bond between members of the public and the officers, you welcome them and treat them as one of your own and you feed them with relevant information. They will have the same thoughts and feelings about your cause as you do,” he said in an exclusive interview with Bernama recently.

The education among others is imparted through the frequent townhall and dialogue sessions with residents of crime hotspots within the district.

On the environment, he said; "We get our officers to go out on patrols to create the sense of a safe environment in the neighbourhoods. This, directly and indirectly, boosts the confidence of the public towards the police and in turn, they will help us by providing information on any wrongdoings and ongoing investigations," he said.

However, with Sentul being a large district with a large number of foreigners, Shanmugamoorty acknowledges the many challenges facing his force.

The Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) which was enforced to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the northern part of the district, namely at the Pasar Borong Kuala Lumpur and Pasar Borong Selayang, revealed the extent of the dominance of foreigners there, including those holding United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) card.

Shanmugamoorthy pointed out that about 14,000 foreigners at both wholesale markets were UNCHR card holders, some possessing fake UNCHR cards and have committed offences, while the general public are concerned about the influx of these foreigners there.

"So far, the situation is under control and after the EMCO episode, there was an obvious change compared to before as many of the foreigners have been weeded out" he said.

Shanmugamoorthy who has been in charge of the Sentul Police District the last two years also noted other problems that the police in the district have to deal with.

They include crowd control at the Kuala Lumpur High Court Complex where many of the country's once prominent leaders including former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak faced trials, relocation of houses of worship in the district, and protecting construction sites from extortionists.

However, he said, all the challenges have been identified from the first day he led the Sentul district police, and members of the force were provided special guidance to help them handle the issue. - BERNAMA