JOHOR BARU: Housing developers should offer unsold units to the police to be turned into community police posts.
Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said this would be a win-win situation for the police and developer.
“The presence of a policeman and his family in a housing estate will boost security and enhance the marketability of the property.
“The police will also be able to expand their community policing efforts,” he told The Star here yesterday.
Lee said in some development projects, there was bound to be houses that could not be sold and such premises could be given to the police instead of being left unoccupied for a long time.
“The foundation is willing to play a role by collecting data on such houses from developers and passing the information to the police,” he said.
Lee added that the recent launch of the state's first community police post in Taman Bestari Indah was a step in the right direction.
The post is part of the community policing initiative in which a junior police personnel and his family will reside in a house, which would double up as his quarters and office.
The Iskandar Regional Development Authority here hopes to have 208 such posts within housing estates in Iskandar Malaysia.
“We should expand such projects nationwide through participation of developers,” said Lee.
The time has come for the Government and people to work together, not only to fight crime but also ascertain the causes.