KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 — The police have shot dead a total of 92 suspected criminals in under three years during the course of their duty, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi revealed today.
The minister reasoned, however, that local crime-fighters do not fire shots without good reason, and are always working towards cutting down the country’s crime rate, especially murder cases.
“The police always conduct operations to detect criminals that are dangerous and act cruelly towards their victims,” Zahid said in a written parliamentary reply today to Sim Tong Him (DAP-Kota Melaka).
In the breakdown of detailed statistics provided in the reply, it was shown that of the 92 killed between 2011 and August this year, the police shot dead 18 suspects this year alone, all of them Malaysian males.
In 2011, 30 men were shot dead with 12 of them being Malaysians.
In 2012, 26 out of the 44 men shot dead by the police were Malaysians, the statistics said.
Police shootings have in the past fueled the public’s demand for the setting up of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).
In his reply today, Zahid said that each case of police shooting is probed carefully and stern action would be taken on police officers that had opened fire negligently.
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