Police to acquire 1,000 non-lethal weapons, 1,300 body cameras - Bukit Aman

The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) plans to acquire about 1,000 more non-lethal weapons for use by its personnel when facing aggressive individuals, said Bukit Aman Logistics and Technology Department director Datuk Seri Rosli Ab Rahman.

He said a proposal on procuring the weapons had been included in the 12th Malaysia Plan for action to be taken by the government next year, and that police had identified two types of weapons - electroshock guns and net guns - for that purpose.

“We already have these weapons and have been using them, but these guns have expiry dates and now we have only 100 of them left,” he told a special press conference at Bukit Aman today.

Earlier, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador was reported to have said that PDRM was reducing the use of lethal weapons, especially when facing aggressive individuals or those running amok as police wanted to catch the culprits without causing any deaths.

Meanwhile, Rosli said that a total of 1,300 body cameras would be supplied to PDRM as they have been found to be able to assist in handling criminal matters in a transparent manner as well as to prevent wrongful accusations among police officers and personnel.

He, however, did not divulge details as to when police would receive the body cameras, except to say that police had applied for them under the 12th Malaysia Plan.

In another development, Rosli said that the government had approved an allocation of RM40 million for the upgrading of stores for the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (NCID) case items.

He said the upgrading work was expected to be completed next year and that police also planned to increase the number of closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) in 684 locations involving police lock-ups nationwide.

-- BERNAMA