KUALA LUMPUR, 14 Oct 2008: Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar told the Dewan Rakyat today that the Malaysian Police Force (PDRM) would achieve its target of recruiting 60,000 new personnel under its five year strategic plan (2007-2012).
He said the police force had taken proactive measures to achieve the target by increasing its recruitment from twice a year to four times a year.
“Based on statistics, we will achieve (the target of 60,000) because between 2007 and 2012, a total of 1,200 inspectors and 10,800 constables will be recruited every year,” he said during the question and answer session in the Dewan Rakyat here today.
He was responding to a question by Dr Tan Seng Giaw (DAP-Kepong) who wanted to know whether the target of increasing 60,000 members in the police force could be achieved by 2012.
PDRM now has 92,000 members.
Syed Hamid said to achieve the target, more police training centres would be built with the one at Langkawi, Kedah and Ulu Kinta in Perak expected to be operational next year.
The centres would be capable of training 3,000 policemen, he added.
He said existing training infrastructure and facilities, like those in Kuala Lumpur, Ayer Hitam, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu would be upgraded.
“With additional (new) training centres and the upgrading of existing ones, we have a capacity of training 88,074 policemen, comprising 6,704 inspectors and 81,370 constables until 2012,” he added.
Syed Hamid said a total of 2,364 people had been appointed as police constables and 879 others as inspectors until 1 July this year.
He said another 2,000 candidates would be appointed as police constables until end of the year.
Meanwhile, in response to a supplementary question by Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing (BN-Bintulu) on the quality of police training, Syed Hamid said the government engaged police retires with vast experience as trainers at police training centres. — Bernama
