'Stop demoralising police by bashing them'

The Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) today urged members of the public to stop bashing the police as they are demoralising the people who are supposed to keep all of us safe. 

At a media briefing today, the director of the National Key Results Area (NKRA) for crime reduction, Eugene Teh (left), said for better or for worse, the police "are our only choice".

"We don't have an alternative. Some people are saying, 'bring in the United Nations police'... But are you sure?

"In this business, when we are buying security services from the police, they are the monopoly sellers and they are doing their damn hardest...They are our only choice, these 115,000 people," he said.

Teh, who worked with the police on the NKRA programme for three years, said the police have been subjected to "a lot of stress, from the ministry, the PM and the press". 

'They're really stressed'

"Investigating officers sit in dinky rooms at the back of the police stations, which smell of cigarettes. An officer will look at this case...and then he'll scream and look at another case.

"This guy is really, really stressed. If (police) have done something well, applaud them for their efforts," he said.

If harsh criticisms continue, the police may just give up as "they'll get scolded whether they do (their jobs) or not".

Teh said those who have complaints about the police, particularly of police refusing to take their reports of crime, should complain to the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission, or emailgtp.feedback@pemandu.gov.my.

According to the police, the country's crime index dropped by 26.3 percent between January and June 2012, compared with the same period in 2009. 

However, a Pemandu-commissioned research study found that slightly more than half of Malaysians still fear being victims of crime.