http://www.theantdaily.com/Main/Police-misconduct-continues-unabated-Is-there-no-end-to-it (25 May 2014)
QUICK TAKE: Imagine this. You are a lone female driving home after consuming wine a wee bit too much in the wee hours of the morning. Three “crooks” then flag you down and molest you.
The “crooks” then fleece you of your money and make you wait almost an hour, before your friends come to your aid.
Enraged and violated, who do you turn to for help? If you said the police, think again. What if the crooks themselves are the men in blue?
That is the exact predicament that a 24-year-old woman was forced to endure recently in Kuala Lumpur.
The woman, who works in a fitness centre, had recently lodged a complaint against three traffic policemen at the Pudu police station.
In her report, she stated that she was flagged down by the men near the US embassy on Jalan Tun Razak while she was driving under the influence of alcohol.
The men then allegedly made passing remarks about her breasts and one of them even reached into her blouse and groped one of them. Wanting to settle the matter, she was then made to wait for 45 minutes before a friend came to her aid and paid a bribe of RM100.
This is both appalling and enraging. The police are supposed to serve and protect the rakyat, and yet incidents like this continue to happen.
Remember the infamous “nude squat” incident back in 2005 where a local woman was forced to do squats in the nude in the Petaling Jaya police lock-up, and the act was secretly filmed by police personnel?
Police said it (making detainees perform squats) was standard police procedure to dislodge any items hidden in the victim's crevices -- which itself became a matter of contention between the authorities and opposition figures who exposed the issue.
The clip of the woman doing squats under the watchful eyes of a policewoman was later widely circulated via Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) and the matter got blown up, right till Parliament.
That is not the sole incident where the law enforcers had blatantly abused their badge. There have been reported cases of cops charged with raping foreigners.
Police indiscipline does not only come in the form of sexual misconduct. Recently cops on duty have been caught napping and boozing, without a worry in the world.
And there’s also the infamous “coffee money” culture that not only cops but almost all other enforcement authorities are known for.
Why has it come to this? The fact that they are not being paid enough aside, what happened to their moral values? Does carrying a badge and a pistol put them above the law?
Are their salaries not paid for by taxpayers? At least that should make them serve and protect the rakyat, right?
Cases like this are a grim reminder to the authorities that it is crucial to set up a body like the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).
However, the government seems dead set against the setting up of such a commission, probably because it fears more police misdeeds will be revealed.
If such incidents of power abuse continue to happen, police should just abandon their motto of “Firm, Fair and Prudent”.
That way they won’t be accused of misleading the people.
QUICK TAKE: Imagine this. You are a lone female driving home after consuming wine a wee bit too much in the wee hours of the morning. Three “crooks” then flag you down and molest you.
The “crooks” then fleece you of your money and make you wait almost an hour, before your friends come to your aid.
Enraged and violated, who do you turn to for help? If you said the police, think again. What if the crooks themselves are the men in blue?
That is the exact predicament that a 24-year-old woman was forced to endure recently in Kuala Lumpur.
The woman, who works in a fitness centre, had recently lodged a complaint against three traffic policemen at the Pudu police station.
In her report, she stated that she was flagged down by the men near the US embassy on Jalan Tun Razak while she was driving under the influence of alcohol.
The men then allegedly made passing remarks about her breasts and one of them even reached into her blouse and groped one of them. Wanting to settle the matter, she was then made to wait for 45 minutes before a friend came to her aid and paid a bribe of RM100.
This is both appalling and enraging. The police are supposed to serve and protect the rakyat, and yet incidents like this continue to happen.
Remember the infamous “nude squat” incident back in 2005 where a local woman was forced to do squats in the nude in the Petaling Jaya police lock-up, and the act was secretly filmed by police personnel?
Police said it (making detainees perform squats) was standard police procedure to dislodge any items hidden in the victim's crevices -- which itself became a matter of contention between the authorities and opposition figures who exposed the issue.
The clip of the woman doing squats under the watchful eyes of a policewoman was later widely circulated via Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) and the matter got blown up, right till Parliament.
That is not the sole incident where the law enforcers had blatantly abused their badge. There have been reported cases of cops charged with raping foreigners.
Police indiscipline does not only come in the form of sexual misconduct. Recently cops on duty have been caught napping and boozing, without a worry in the world.
And there’s also the infamous “coffee money” culture that not only cops but almost all other enforcement authorities are known for.
Why has it come to this? The fact that they are not being paid enough aside, what happened to their moral values? Does carrying a badge and a pistol put them above the law?
Are their salaries not paid for by taxpayers? At least that should make them serve and protect the rakyat, right?
Cases like this are a grim reminder to the authorities that it is crucial to set up a body like the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).
However, the government seems dead set against the setting up of such a commission, probably because it fears more police misdeeds will be revealed.
If such incidents of power abuse continue to happen, police should just abandon their motto of “Firm, Fair and Prudent”.
That way they won’t be accused of misleading the people.
.JPG)
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