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5th May 2008 - criminologist says Miri can become 'ghost town' if crime not seriously looked into
CRIMINOLOGIST: Miri can become 'ghost town' if crime not checked
Miri can become a “ghost city” if crime cases are not checked effectively, world renowned forensic scientist and criminologist Dr Henry Lee said today.
Lee said that in his almost 50 years experience in law enforcement and solving crime cases, he had seen cities and even countries collapsing over the failure of the authorities to combat crime.
Stressing that every crime case must be nipped in the bud, he said the authorities must be pro-active in dealing with the situation, no matter how trivial the crime could be.
To be pro-active, the police and local authorities must be able to study crime patterns and trends to guide them to draw effective strategies to curb recurrence of similar crimes, he said when delivering a talk on “Crime and Vandalism” jointly organised by the Miri City Council, Rotary Club of Miri and Miri Anti-Vandalism Committee.
Lee said: “Crime, economy and society are inter-twined. With one billion crimes committed around the world every year, it had caused loss of income, loss of economy and loss of human life. This is a great tragedy.”
On vandalism, Lee said despite being categorised as petty crime, the effect to a city could cause depreciation in property values, higher insurance rates, losses in business confidence and eventually leading to even worse crimes.
Lauding the organisers’ efforts in highlighting vandalism as one of the crimes to be tackled in this city, he also cautioned on the emergence of computer vandalism that had caused great concern in the United States.
Born in China and grew up in Taiwan, Lee first worked for the Taipei Police Department, attaining the rank of Captain.
With his wife, Margaret, who is a Mirian, they moved to the United States in 1965, and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Forensic Science from John Jay College in 1972.
He furthered his studies in biochemistry at the New York University and received his Masters degree in 1974 and a PhD a year later. He also underwent special training at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and at several other law enforcement organisations in the United States.
In 1975, Lee joined University of New Haven where he set up the School of Forensic Sciences that had now become the world’s leading training centre that provides training for law enforcers from throughout the world.
[ Source ]
My take:
Finally, someone who could give some straight answers about the seriousness of the importance of seriously combating crime in Miri instead of sugarcoating it with making public announcements of false sense of security or proclaiming crime reduction 'successes' that don't last long.
It's haze season again.
It's the time of the year again when all you smell is smoke - especially during the night, when the air is cooler, bringing down all the smoke particles from some open burning somewhere. During the daytime, the smoke is less intrusive, but forms a layer at the upper atmosphere and trapping the heat - the temperatures are unbearable.
This 'phenomenon' occurs every year -- usually involves stupid people taking shortcuts and simply setting fields ablaze for a quick clearing of the land for plantation of who-knows-what. Sometimes blamed on our neighboring country, Indonesia, but most of the time comes from our own backyard (but never made mentioned much about). What better time to have this during our mid-year May / Gawai festivals?
Ah, now you see why people describe Miri as "hot" when they visit -- it's like an oven here at times like this.
What's the number of lung disease cases in Miri like?
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