Miri has public complaints bureau...

Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) here has set up its own Bureau of Public Complaints and Services ala MCA's Datuk Michael Chong except with a difference.
"Where MCA is a one-man show, ours is a team of 31 party members led by youth chief Lawrence Lai. Our bureau is divided into three units that is the legal unit, the education unit and the public complaints unit. We have six lawyers in the bureau, " said the assistant minister of Infrastructure Development and Communication Lee Kim Shin.
He told this to reporters when he brought members of the bureau on a familiarization visit to the Miri Police District Headquarters yesterday.
Present during the visit were the Miri police chief ACP Jamaludin Ibrahim, his senior officers and Pujut assemblyman Andy Chia.
Lee said the bureau would assist the various government departments especially regarding public complaints.
"With the setting up of this bureau, we hope to facilitate public complaints in a more efficient way by disseminating the accurate information promptly. In this way, a lot of problems could be resolved and misunderstanding averted," said Lee.
In response, Jamaludin welcome the move by the bureau to work closely with the department saying effort to help the public would be more focused.
"Our department's role is to ensure security for everyone in Miri," said Jamaludin.
Lee requested a seminar be conducted for the bureau so that its members are knowledgeable on proper police procedures like making a police report and making a citizen's arrest.
Jamaludin also disclosed the department is currently looking for about 80 individuals to fill the post of police voluntary reserves.
"These police voluntary reserves would only do police work after office hours. Although the deadline have expired, we are opening it again because so far we have only received about 25 applications," said Jamaludin.
Also raised during the visit was the need for big supermarkets in the city to instal CCTV at their parking areas and if necessary at their shopping complexes to deter robberies.
Some members of the bureau also raised the need for a stronger and more visible police presence in busy shopping centres in the city because of late there had been cases of snatch thefts.
Jamaludin also advised kite flyers to take extra precaution when flying kites in residential areas.
"There had been reports of children chasing kites on the roads without regard to their safety. Altough there is no law against kite flying but action can be taken if it endangers public safety like getting in the way of aviation or get in the flight path of aeroplanes," said Jamaludin.ENDS.

Caption: 08-10bureau:COLLABORATION: Lee (seated third right). Jamaludin is second right. Chia is fourth right. Lai is at right.

Only the Greedy says Police chief

About RM128,000 was swindled from unsuspecting victims of a scam known as Court Scam carried by unidentified suspects with six cases related to the scam already reported to the police here.
In a press conference here, the Miri Police Chief ACP Jamaludin Ibrahim said police are still investigating the case.
He explained the modus operandi of those behind the scam to the reporters present.
In one case, the suspect made a telephone call to a fixed line to the victim identifying himself as a police officer from Bukit Aman telling the victim that he was required to attend a court hearing in Kuala Lumpur.
The victim was told by the suspect that his bank account had been used for illegal activities involving Along and illegal money.
The suspect was told that his bank account is now under investigation and he was instructed by the suspect to withdraw all his money from his account and to transfer the amount to an account provided by the suspect.
He was told his money would be kept in the account during the period of investigation and would be returned to him once the case is solved.
To make the scam look bona fide and believable to the victim, the first suspect had his accomplice, this time a woman who identified herself as a public prosecutor from Kuala Lumpur court called the victim advising him to transfer his money to the account provided by the first suspect otherwise the victim would have to attend court hearing in Kuala Lumpur.
The suspect promised to contact the victim once the money had been banked in. The suspect only realised he had been conned when the suspect never call back after the money was banked in.
"In view there are a lot of these cases being reported and this kind of scam had become worrisome, I would like to advise members of the public to be cautious and never to give their money to people they do not know. If you happen to receive such calls, don't entertain and the best course of action is contact the police, the court or the bank as preventive measures to avoid being swindled," said Jamaludin.
"People who are easy preys to swindlers are those who are greedy," he added speaking of those who fell victims to the sweet talks of these predators either online, phone calls and SMS.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated case, Jamaludin disclosed police had arrested four locals, three women and a man, suspected of having being involved in conducting illegal lottery.
A police team led by ASP Anthony Abell made the arrest in a police raid on the 8 October 2008. Also confiscated in the raid were 12 fax machines, several calculators and writing materials.
Based on police investigation, the amount of weekly betting collected by the suspects in their illegal operation was estimated at RM300,000.
The suspects would be charged under the Open Gaming House Act 1953 Section 4A(a) which carries a maximum fine of RM200,000 or two year imprisonment upon conviction.
This is the third of such cases, said Jamaludin. The first was in January and the second was in August. He also revealed the first and the last case was related.
Police,meanwhile, believed several house-breaking cases rampant in Lutong and Desa Senadin areas lately were solved with the arrest of two suspects, both male, age from 27 to 42 years old on 16 October 2008 at a house in Kg Pengkalan Lutong. A laptop, a watch and a remote control kite were also confiscated. The two suspects would be produced in court tomorrow.

Caption: SUCCESS STORY: Jamaludin (right) showing the fax machines that were confiscated. Also in the picture is Miri CID chief DSP Mohd Zani Che Din.