Don’t do a cop-out, nab the wrongdoer policemen

 

When Nik Ezanee Mohd Faisal took over as Petaling Jaya OCPD, it was like a breath of fresh air. Here was a policeman who had the people at heart.

He visited Auntie Ah Siong who had given him “pandan pau” when he was much younger, to say hello again and thanks. She was elated.

And when a woman was caught shoplifting just to feed her children, he stepped in to help her with food and groceries – he even visited her house bearing the gifts.

I would think that was the first time in recent memory that any policeman had gone to such lengths to win the hearts and minds of the people. He succeeded, too.

People started seeing the police, known more for extorting bribes from the powerless, differently. The policeman, like the old British saying, was our friend again.

There are thousands of policemen who are doing their job right, braving the sun, rain and storms to do their duty, despite being away from family and friends.

Yet, there are some who do not seem to believe in the kind of leadership set by Nik Ezanee. Instead, the example they follow is the leadership set by some officers ranked higher than the OCPD.

When the leadership is seen to be practising double standards, summoning families who eat together and arresting friends having get-togethers while, at the same time, pandering to ministers who brazenly flout the law, there is probably little motivation for the lower-ranked cops to do things right.

A minister can “accidentally” run into friends while walking, sit for “quick meals” in a crowd of MCO lawbreakers and the top cops don’t seem to care.

But they are quick to take action – and rightly so – against people who toss yee sang in some private area, or have family dinners in private rooms in restaurants.

Policemen seem to be making one misstep after another. First, there was a cabbie who complained about how cops extorted money from a Bangladeshi, who had all his documents in order, while on the way to the airport for his flight home.

The taximan had to pay the price, when the Bangladeshi had no money to pay the full taxi fare.

If that is annoying, the stories the women are telling are quite disgusting. There are policemen who are trying to chat up those they stop, many women claim.

They take down their phone numbers and then text them or call them to “arrange” for a date. You can almost feel sorry for the cops – they are humans too and may really like the woman they meet – but it just isn’t on if you are on duty.

The really terrible case was when one policeman asked a woman to lift her blouse to expose herself to him. That is taking things too far. That policeman has to be arrested and taken to court for sexual harassment.

And if guilty, he must be punished. No beating about the bush and trying to run away on technicalties, like in the case of a Mongolian woman whose suit against a policeman was thrown out because she could not pay RM70,000 as “security costs.”

She was stopped in Petaling Jaya in April last year – before Nik Ezanee took over – and was allegedly raped, along with another Mongolian woman, in a nearby hotel.

She also had to pay her alleged assailant RM6,500. It is not for us to judge the case until the verdict is known but, to the public, it seems the policeman got away thanks to a technicality and due to the fact that the woman had no money – not because he was innocent.

That is wrong. All must face the law and be judged on facts, be they the regular rakyat, policemen or politicians.

The same goes for the cops at the Miri police station where a 16-year-old was taken out of her cell and raped in the station toilet by another detainee.

The top cops must not try to let the offenders go, believing that they are “taking care of their own”. They are not.

Only by acting against the few errant cops will they be taking care of their own – the thousands who are doing their work diligently.

There have been too many stories of double standards, right from the beginning of the first MCO in March last year. Too many innocent people, who became inadvertent offenders, have been mistreated, handcuffed, shamed and brought in chains to courthouses.

At the same time, too many politicians (and some policemen) have got away with committing the same offences, travelling abroad and across borders when they were not supposed to. At best, they have been handed a minor slap on the wrist.

This has to stop. Policemen have to live up to their motto of “firm, just and well-mannered”.

Right now, they are firm only on the common people and seem to have no sense of justice. And well-mannered? Ask the girls who got those calls and the one who was asked to lift her blouse. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.