Restructure PDRM to fight crime

One week has passed and the federal government especially Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, has not replied to my question on the sudden increase in the number of police in the Special Branch (SB). 

I have asked why between 2011 and 2013, there is a huge increase of 46.43% in the number of personnel in SB (including the Special Task Force) or an addition of 2,423 officers while the more critical crime-fighting Criminal Investigation Department (CID) only gets an additional 583 officers, a mere 6.24% increase in the strength of personnel.

On one hand, the government has not given enough resources to the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) to fight crime, and yet on the other hand, the government is clamouring to re-enact an Act similar to the Emergency Ordinance with the excuse that the abolishment of the Act previously has contributed to the rise in crime.

The truth is, the Barisan Nasional government is gambling with the lives of the people and endangering the lives of our police officers on the front line because they stubbornly refused to allocate sufficient resources towards fighting crime.

Recently, the Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said that on average, an investigating officer (IO) has to handle up to 19 cases a month, while an IO serving in "hot spot" areas has to handle between 20-30 cases monthly.

The 2005 Tun Dzaiddin Royal Commission Report recommended that ideally, an IO should only handle 5 cases a month. When an IO had to deal with three to four times that amount, not only efficiency is affected, but the life of our police officer is endangered due to lack of focus.

If the government is sincere to resolve the problem of crime, it should stop playing politics and making vain proposals like a new EO-like Act. Instead, it should implement a restructuring exercise on PDRM, beginning with the following fout critical measures:

1) Make fighting crime the core function of PDRM

Among the recommendations of the Dzaiddin Report include focusing the strength of the police force on fighting crime and not one non-police related tasks such as prosecution, forensic, logistical support and paramilitary operations. These tasks can be done by other related agencies such as the Deputy Public Prosecutor, civilian forensic experts, the armed forces and others.

Thus, the Police Act 1967 has to be amended so that the role, task and mission of PDRM is streamlined to focus on fighting crime and not other tasks which do not require police power.

2) Abolish the Special Branch

In order to fulfil the mission to Fight crime, I propose that the specially trained intelligence officers in the Special Branch to be re-designated to the CID. The original goal of the SB was to fight communist insurrection but today, we are no longer facing the threat of communism. The federal government and the component parties of Barisan Nasional such as UMNO and MCA have all established strong diplomatic links with the largest communist party in the world, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).  

Hence, it does not make sense to have an SB with an estimate of more than 7,000 officers. The Home Ministry has refused to provide the latest number of personnel in SB.

SB police should therefore be channeled into crime fighting, including intelligence and investigation against serious crime and terrorist activities.

3) One policeman handling crime, five handling office work

At present, about 40.82% or 45,995 trained police officers are working in the management department. That is to say, for every one police officer in the CID fighting crime, there are about five police officers who are doing office work, including clerical and administrative duties.

These tasks can be easily done by civilian professionals and not uniformed police. This not only enables trained police to be channeled to the “core business” of PDRM, that is, to fight crime, it will also reduce the financial burden of the force as civilian officers are not paid special police allowances.  

4) Establish the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC)

In order to ensure the independence of PDRM especially against political intervention as alleged by former IGP Musa Hassan, an IPCMC must be set up immediately. And as I have proposed earlier, the IPCMC should be amended to include power to decide on job promotions within the force so that promotions are based on merits and performance and not political interventions.
 
Steven Sim is the  Member of Parliament for Bukit Mertajam