Police ready to conduct house-to-house SOP checks during Hari Raya

 

The police are prepared to conduct house-to-house inspections in conjunction with Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations to ensure there are no unapproved cases of interstate travel.

Bukit Aman Internal Security and Public Order Department director Abd Rahim Jaafar said the same strategy is expected to be improved and used as the interstate travel ban is still enforced.

"We will conduct inspections on whether they have approval letters to travel. Inspections will be done according to several aspects, including the number of vehicles at a certain house,” he said.

He made the comments at a media conference after launching the book 69 Komando: Lahad Datu Mac 2013 (69 Commandos: Lahad Datu March 2013) at the Ulu Kinta General Operations Force North Brigade Camp today.

Last year, Senior Minister (Security cluster) Ismail Sabri Yaakob was reported to have said that police would conduct house-to-house inspections for the standard operating procedure (SOP) compliance during Aidilfitri celebrations especially if there were a lot of vehicles at one home. 

Abd Rahim said the police did not rule out the possibility that individuals might travel between states without approval and take the opportunity of situations such as heavy rain at roadblocks.

"They might get through. Sometimes it’s not because of their letters but because they’re lucky when there is heavy rain and the situation could be exploited in that sense.

"Our personnel might not be on duty during heavy rain because it endangers them so they have to seek shelter. That is when they make their moves,” he explained.

In other developments, he announced that they are making preparations for an additional brigade in Sabah and a battalion in Sarawak, including personnel accommodation and office space before they are stationed at the new camps.

"We would also like to add personnel at the VAT69 Commando team camp in Ipoh which is expected to be completed in June next year,” he said.

He added that the plan to increase VAT69 commando strength from 692 personnel to almost 1,000 will be tabled before the police top management and the Home Ministry.

- Bernama