KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - Never too young to start.

City police will be launching the Children's RakanCop by the end of the year and will be going to kindergartens to educate children on crime and how to prevent it.

City police chief Datuk Muhammad Sabtu Osman said policemen will also be setting up booths and exhibitions at kindergartens to explain matters related to crime.

He said the children would also be taught what to do when a crime or any other emergency occurs.

They will be told whom to call in a particular emergency, and provided with the relevant numbers, including the regular RakanCop number.
The move is also to ensure that children realise, from an early age, that the policeman was a friend to all.

"With the right approach, the children will not think negatively about the force and will later co-operate with us in combating crime."

Muhammad Sabtu said the matter was important these days, too, because crimes against children were on the rise lately.

However, the programme is still in the planning stages.

The regular RakanCop being run now is basically a programme which encourages the public to be proactive in combating crime by calling a number or sending a text message to report such happenings.

It has been proven successful in helping police combat and solve crime.

Muhammad Sabtu also urged the public to change their apathetic attitude towards crime.

"We must take note of what is happening around us, especially in our housing areas, schools and even on the road," he said at city police headquarters after launching a campaign to create awareness among children about safety.

The campaign, titled "Towards safety, unity and harmony 2008", is a pilot smart programme launched by the Kuala Lumpur Smart Reader.

Some 100 Smart Reader students were involved in yesterday's programme, where they were taught the 10 golden rules of safety -- stranger means danger; permission is important; keep close, stay safe; stick to the group; run for your life; secrets, good and bad; my body is mine; Emergency 999; Ring, ring, ring!; and, Knock, knock, who's there?

Smart Reader Worldwide chief executive officer Dr Richard Ong said safety was a condition of being free from danger, risk and injury.

He said the programme was to teach the children about the dangers that lurk everywhere.

"Children are innocent and they might not be able to comprehend the gravity of danger. We can get the message across by educating them."