KUALA TERENGGANU: Violent crimes committed by youths are on the increase and have reached a worrying level, said Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar.

"We are witnessing the emergence of a new trend, the younger generation are showing disrespect and they could not care less about the law.

"They have no regard for people in authority, including police officers, teachers or even doctors," he said after visiting two injured policemen at Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital here yesterday.

Const Arizan Mohamad, 24, suffered fractures on his collarbone and both legs after he was rammed by youths on a motorcyle while manning a roadblock at Jalan Masjid Abidin here on Sept 16.

Ismail said Arizan's case was not an isolated one as many other policemen were injured while carrying out their duties and most of the offenders were youths.

"We have to work on preventive measures and stop young people from committing more wrongdoings.

"They don't have the basic value in terms of respect for the law and this can be detrimental to the country," he added.

During a visit to the Terengganu police contingent headquarters here, Ismail said the use of new media would ensure that the fight against crime will be more effective. He added that the police needed to change its approach, such as forming a Facebook account and a media centre at Bukit Aman, which will help the authorities in its crime-fighting efforts.

"The police Facebook page has received an overwhelming response from the people, who provided us with information on crime.

"We will also work hard to foster closer ties with the public through the formation of more Rakan Cop schemes and also through sports and social clubs.

"We have to change our approach to policing accordingly to the pace of development, hence we need more friends that is surely the members of the public and corporate companies who could provide us salient information on crime happenings in their respective areas," he said.

Ismail said the police has also started posting crime-prevention tips and statistics on areas with high crime indexes using the social networking site.

-The Star/Asia News Network