More media on Bangsar Crime

A crime spike in Bangsar Baru is galvanising residents into beefing up their own security.

Within a month, the number of house break-ins, attempted break-ins and snatch thefts has increased tremendously at this upmarket neighbourhood.

Bangsar Baru Residents’ Association president Datuk George Joseph said the residents are expecting more crimes during the coming festive period.

To deal with the situation, he said, the association would be pushing City Hall to place closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in crime-prone areas.

“The association will also be suggesting to residents to make Bangsar Baru a guarded community from 8pm till 6am daily. However, residents should understand this is not cheap. And we all have to play a pivotal role in order to make Bangsar Baru a safer place,” he added.

In addition, Joseph said he would be meeting with Brickfields police chief ACP Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid as soon as possible to discuss what more could be done to reduce the crime rate in the neighbourhood.

According to Joseph, thieves are targeting women around the area who usually go for walks early in the morning.

When contacted, Kuala Lumpur Mayor Datuk Ahmad Fuad Ismail said he welcomed the proposal by residents of Bangsar Baru to convert it into a guarded community, but there were certain factors which needed to be considered before it could be given the approval.

“As for the CCTVs, we must discuss with residents and police before we can agree to provide them with the equipment. Again, certain criteria must be fulfilled, like the locations where the CCTVs are to be placed and more importantly, whether the area warrants CCTV monitoring,” he said He added that CCTVs were installed in public areas and consideration would be given to residential areas only if police deemed it a crime prone area.

He also said a lot of money went into installing and maintaining CCTVs so the council had to be selective in deciding which areas needed CCTV monitoring.