I REFER to your report on the robbery at the Bayan Lepas airport ("Robbers grab bag of cakes, miss RM1.9m" -- NST, Aug 27).

In this robbery, the robbers were as ruthless as the gang involved in a similar robbery at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in April.

It is disheartening that no one has been prosecuted yet for the KLIA robbery though it has been indicated that preventive laws were used on those allegedly involved.

It must be emphasised that these laws are not as transparent as court proceedings and have a lesser deterrent effect than the provisions in the Increased Firearms Penalties Act, which provides for capital punishment.

Obviously, investigations have fallen short of expectations, though not for the want of trying.
The civil suits by aggrieved parties against the police for not apprehending and prosecuting perpetrators have not made it easier for the force.

Those concerned will have to rise above the state of denial they are in, concede that there is a problem and view it as a challenge to make sure that police work can be improved.

This can only mean going back to the basics, especially the painstaking work of intelligence-gathering, which is crucial to catching and prosecuting criminals.

The main area of this work involves the recruitment and handling of sources of information.

It is a risky aspect of police work, but necessary. It will take time to get it going but better late than never.

Furthermore, those responsible for sloppy investigations must be hauled up for failing to deliver. Those in the chain of command of supervision should be held accountable for any incident that mars the police image. Promotion must be slow in coming for such officers. This will lead to an adherence to internal procedures and regulations.

By now, it should be clear that over-emphasis on crime prevention alone will not win the war on crime. It must be complemented with the procurement of intelligence.

The increasing dependence on closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras will not replace intelligence gathering.

It is interesting to note that a senior British police officer, Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville, commented in the Guardian daily that CCTVs had failed to cut crime and been "an utter fiasco".

Britain has the most number of surveillance cameras in the world. This investment will only reap dividends if it moves in tandem with the gathering of intelligence. Only then will we succeed in the war against crime.