Malaysia’s Education Ministry is considering a bold move to station police officers in the country’s schools to improve student safety.
However, Minister Mahdzir Khalid said the move would only apply to schools located in “hot spots”.
There are currently 421 schools located in hot spots across Malaysia, an issue that Mahdzir acknowledged has the potential to stretch police resources.
“The police cannot be in all the schools as we have 10,200 nationwide and it would be asking the police too much,” Mahdzir told reporters in Parliament on Monday.
“What we can ask for is help from the district police stations to place an auxiliary policeman at schools located in hot spots.”
Mahdzir added that the measure would be additional security for schools, apart from closed-circuit television cameras to be installed in schools later this year.
Liaison officers are already embedded in some schools as part of the engagement program between schools and police.
Under the proposal, priority would be given on issues such as drug abuse, discipline issues and criminal activities to be assessed by the district’s Criminal Investigations Department.
Malaysia’s Education Ministry has previously floated the idea of embedding police officers in schools permanently following the murder of a 39-year-old man who had been waiting for his son to finish classes in Sri Serdang, Seri Kembanga.
The man was fatally shot by a gunman on a motorcycle who was likely connected to a violent dispute between Gang 08 members and drug trafficking.
Selangor police chief, Mazlan Mansor, urged the public not to panic about the “isolated incident” as the attackers were going for a specific target.
The original version of this story was published in The Straits Times.