I REFER to the letter by Chua Teck Boon of Muar (”Public input vital” — NST, Jan 4) wherein he said: “Datuk Zaman Khan chided the police for being over-dependent on the public for information.”

Unless my memory fails me, I do not recall making such an absurd statement on the importance of information derived from any source, including the public.

As a former policeman, it would appear as if I am ungrateful to those members of the public who supplied me with information on criminal activities during my service. No right-thinking policeman can deny that “the public is the primary source of information”.

Many years ago, when I was officer-in-charge of Petaling Jaya, I received a telephone tip-off that leaders of secret societies were meeting at a cake house in Taman Sea.

I did not believe the caller. After five minutes, he called and urged me to act.

It was lunch; there were no detectives or uniform policemen around except for Detective Lim, who drove me to the shop. As I stood on the five-foot-way, a man passed and pointed to the first floor.

I rushed upstairs and kicked the door open. There were 13 people and they rushed at me. A cocked gun trained on the forehead of the one closest to me deterred them.

These people led secret societies that combined and formed Gang 3821 to establish weapon and food dumps in preparation for communist activities in Pahang and Selangor.

It was a success and top brass such as the inspector-general of police and Tun Ghazali Shaffee, the then minister of home affairs, appeared at Petaling Jaya police station. This is a good example of turun padang.

I must caution Chua Teck Boon not to expect the information received from the public to be complete. Also, the police may not jump on it and act without making further enquiries, not only to verify the information but also to make sure that when action is taken it is a success.

To act on information without enquiry may lead to failure which, in turn, results in loss of public confidence and support for police .

One aspect of turun padang is to make enquiries to ensure a positive result when acting on information.

The other aspect of turun padang is to oversee police tasks on the ground such as beat and patrol on foot or in cars and point duty. Are you sure the men are on the ground as detailed?

I have seen duty personnel grouping well before their shift ended, which meant they had left their area of patrol vacant.

To my friends in the police force, turun padang to check and supervise the men on the beat and patrol and also to guide young officers in their work, such as conducting investigations. It will improve efficiency, bring better results, and gain the confidence and support of the public.

Source: NST – January 9, 2008