A week without drug arrests lands two Kelantan station chiefs in hot water over KPI

Kelantan's top police officer, Yusoff Mamat, has issued a warning regarding the state's police stations' failure to meet the drug arrest Key Performance Indicator (KPI). Out of the 56 police stations in Kelantan, seven have not managed to arrest at least one drug addict daily, while two station chiefs have been issued warning letters for not meeting the KPI.

Mamat emphasized that police will not tolerate any station failing to make a drug-related arrest for a week without taking follow-up action. A task force from the state police headquarters will be deployed to areas covered by the problematic stations if no arrests are recorded within a week. Mamat acknowledged that the stations provided excuses such as difficulty in locating suspects or suspects fleeing.

However, if the task force manages an arrest while the local police cannot, it indicates a lack of performance on the station's part. Mamat warned that the first step would be issuing a warning letter to the station chief, with further action only taken after that. The state police headquarters will monitor the performance of all stations weekly and conduct a post-mortem after the three-month KPI pilot program ends next month.

Station chiefs will be called in to identify those who failed to meet the target and determine the reasons for their shortfall. Mamat stressed the importance of meeting the KPI, stating that if there are no arrests for three consecutive days, it cannot continue. He cautioned that the Kelantan police's approach to combating drug abuse could potentially lead to wrongful arrests and abuses without reducing criminal activity.