Are our cops getting enough training?

 

N. Shashi Kala, fz.com 

THE recent spate of custodial deaths highlights a longstanding issue of poor police investigation skills. Going by court proceedings and news reports, our cops appear to be too reliant on witnesses to come forward or for tip-offs for leads. 

 

The kind of forensic investigations as seen in crime shows such as CSI, where a piece of gum from a shoe can – via super-duper, super-fast trace analysis – lead the crime lab to the perpetrator, are unheard of here. (Crime show producers take liberties to tell their story, resulting in compressed timeline for tests, and computer software that borders on genius – but the underlying science is already in use.)

 

In fact, DNA analysis is actually in its infancy here, with a lot of the forensic testing sent to labs overseas.

 

And when evidence is present, in some cases, they are poorly recorded and preserved – remember Anwar's Sodomy II trial? And the chain of evidence – crucial to ensure there is no tampering – sometimes not adhered to (who can forget how 40kg of drugs that were part of a 700kg drug haul were discovered to have gone missing during a trial, leading to the suspect being acquitted by the Kuantan high court).

 

There have also been cases of judges admonishing the DPP and the investigation team for shoddy work.

 

This worries me. Are police personnel not getting the training they need to do their jobs effectively? Or is it that they are just unaware of how important it is to follow police and forensic protocol, to ensure that investigations into a case are airtight before it goes to court.

 

Nothing says "waste of public money" more than having cases thrown out due to slip shod investigation by the police. 

 

I also wonder whether this lack of training is also partly responsible for the custodial deaths in lock-ups.

 

Are cops resorting to beating up suspects, even torturing them, in order to get them to confess their crimes, or finger someone else at least, because this is the quickest, and perhaps only way how they know to get leads?

 

Torture of course was the preferred method of the Inquisition in Europe (which began in the 12th century, all the way up to the witch trials of the 18th century). Back then, those suspected of being heretics or witches were tortured until they confessed or gave up other names. Many innocent men and women died at the hands of the Catholic Church during those bitter years.

 

The thing is our judges have already ruled that witness statements given under coercion cannot be accepted in court (as provided for under Section 24 of the Evidence Act 1950). Yet, this has not stopped cases of suspects who have alleged that they had been beaten while in the lockup. Or in extreme cases: suspects dying under mysterious (actually, not so mysterious) circumstances while under police custody.

 

So what will help? Perhaps some of the PDRM budget should be set aside to provide proper and regular training for their personnel when it comes to investigation techniques. PDRM should also adopt different interrogation methods and spend some of the budget getting newer equipment available to help them with forensic work. Perhaps the government should consider increasing allocations for this purpose. 

 

I believe if our cops had the necessary education, training and tools to do their jobs properly, this Third World mentality of beating suspects into confessing will be less likely to happen. 

 

Let's face it – just because you are sometimes dealing with thugs, doesn't mean you have to resort to thuggery.

 

 

N Shashi Kala is news editor at fz.com. She believes in leading a happy, healthy, stress-free life, and is confident that one day, she'll stumble across it.

Read more: http://www.fz.com/content/are-our-cops-getting-enough-training#ixzz2W0NHxQK3