KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 — A total of 1,350 probationary constables will undergo the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) Basic Police Training Programme (PLAK) this year as part of the Royal Malaysia Police’s (PDRM) continuous efforts to enhance the academic level of its personnel.

Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said that this initiative involves four diploma programmes, namely: the Diploma in Police Management, Diploma in Police Investigations, Diploma in National Security and Diploma in Security Intelligence.

"Each of them needs to complete 90 credit hours over a period of five to seven years, with the study duration lasting 10 to 14 semesters.

"The study begins with the Basic Police Training Programme (PLAK), which contains 10 credit hours, followed by field training to complete the remaining credit hours required,” he said at the IGP’s monthly assembly at Bukit Aman here today.

Razarudin said that this initiative is in line with PDRM’s "Human Capital Development Transformation” effort to ensure that every member of the police force is knowledgeable, competitive, and competent in facing any challenges through enhanced training.

Elaborating further, he said that strategic collaboration between PDRM and Public Higher Education Institutions (IPTA) has successfully produced professional and highly credible police personnel through programmes based on policing elements.

"Collaboration with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) through the Master of Social Science Programme has been strengthened by optimising the impact of the programme’s success with an increase in the number of participants per cohort to 40 Senior Police Officers, and the duration of the study has been shortened to just 12 months,” he said.

Meanwhile, Razarudin said that PDRM would also explore new synergies with Universiti Malaya (UM) through a Master’s Programme in Criminal Justice, which will begin in March this year for a duration of 18 months, involving 30 participants, consisting of 29 Senior PDRM Officers and one participant from the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM).

Additionally, he said that instructors at PDRM’s Training Institutions are required to have at least a Bachelor’s Degree or higher qualifications.

"This is a paradigm shift to ensure more effective training programmes aimed at producing pro-active police officers in carrying out their duties and responsibilities,” he added. — Bernama