The Star, January 5, 2012

GEORGE TOWN: Penang police managed to reduce the state’s overall crime index last year by more than 20%, said state CID chief Senior Asst Comm Zahruddin Abdullah.

“Our target was just 10%. A total of 9,709 cases were reported in 2011 compared to 12,161 the previous year.

“This is an achievement for the state as almost all crimes recorded a significant drop,” he told a press conference yesterday.

SAC Zahruddin added that vehicle theft cases rose slightly while street crimes were reduced by 43.9% last year compared to 2009.

“In 2009, there were 2,597 street crime cases but last year, they dropped to 1,141 cases. We will continue to work hard this year to bring the crime rate down even further.”

On possible demonstrations here over the Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy case verdict on Jan 9, SAC Zahruddin said police had not received information of any protests but they would monitor the situation closely.