BY BAVANI M

THE Taman Desa Residents Association (TDRA) is appealing to all residents in the neighbourhood to subscribe to the TDRA’s crime prevention security patrolling services.  

Its president Lee Seng Chai said the crime rate in the area has been on the rise over the last eight years and the neighbourhood has been tagged as one of the “hot areas” for crime due to its easy access.  

“During a recent crime prevention dialogue with residents, even the OCPD of Brickfields informed us that the situation is getting alarming,” said Lee.  

He said the current service was not enough to cater to the whole neighbourhood, which has about 1,400 households.  

“We need to strengthen our security service and the only way to do that is to increase the number of subscribers,” said TDRA security committee member Gek Tee.  

Taman Desa Residents Association committee members posing with their security patrol team.

“Our security patrol currently comprises only four guards. Three of them conduct patrols on motor-cycles while one of them is stationed at the control centre 24 hours a day,” she said, adding that the number was hardly sufficient to cover the whole area. 

Tee said association members had been going door to door to encourage residents to subscribe to the service but response has been slow.  

“Many of the residents are sceptical about the programme but we want to tell them to give the service a try before dismissing it,” she said. 

Committee member Molly Goh said some residents gave all sorts of excuses when asked to subscribe. 

“They fail to realise that since we started the patrolling service in April, there has been fewer incidents of snatch thefts and break-ins,” she said.  

“We need more guards and even a patrol car but without new members we will not be able to afford it,” she said.  

“These guards patrolling our neighbourhood certainly provides residents with a sense of security,'' said Lee.  

“We may not be able to achieve zero crime rate but it will at least be a deterrent. I strongly urge residents to give the system a try.'' 

The monthly fee for each household is RM30 (terrace), RM40 (semi-detached) and RM50 (bungalow).