A Message For The New IGP - Improve career progress, logistics support and Intranet of PDRM By Abu Bakar Sulaiman

DISCLAIMER : I received this via email. This is obviously written by a Policeman, or it sounds like it. It is a list of complaints (from the inside) plus some suggestions. There are some contradictions in this comment. However I decided to run this piece because it does have make some suggestions for the Police - which sound alright. So here goes.

The title above should be a clarion call for the top brass of PDRM to look into seriously, a fair and impartial career progress for the men in blue. The timely progress of the police officers through ranks should be based on the length of their service, merit and expertise, to avoid the growing number of dissatisfied officers. 

Most of these unfortunate officers remain in the same rank for a long time whilst their juniors enjoying meteoric rise for no valid reasons. 

It is acceptable if they are truly a cop extraordinaire and had outdone the rest of the crowd either in the line of duty or during the interviews for promotion. But this is not the case most of the time. The growing number of junior officers who get promoted lately comprised of those who were slacking in their job. 

Apart from their connections with the upper echelons in the force, some even use their political connections to get their fast lane - promotions unfairly and to the detriment of the progress of their more deserving seniors.  

In other words, its not “What do you know about the effective policing” but “Who do you know?” to get your promotion! 

Because of this deep-rooted culture, the well-performing, dutiful and uncorrupted officers become relatively frustrated. 

And this frustration makes them slowly tap into corrupt practices and resort to courtship with their big bosses at the expense of their duty, which is to fight crime and haul up the criminals to justice.  

When these deserving officers were denied their rightful promotions and the pay- increment thereafter, and subject to work under their mediocre and corrupt junior bosses, they not only choose to behave rebelliously against their younger bosses- silently though, but also turn to corruption with a vengeance against the lopsided system of the police force. They’d rather be loyal to their underworld bosses who are ever ready to full fill their financial and personal needs.

(OSTB : If that is the case this means they are also corrupted. You cannot refer to them as uncorrupted officers. Others being unfair is no excuse for becoming corrupt.)

New IGP’s advice

On the contrary, Datuk Seri Hamid Bador, the newly minted IGP has emphasized good conduct, discipline and austerity measures among his men. Among other things, he has also advised the State Police Chiefs, OCPDs and other higher ranking officers to not to subject their men to organize functions or events which would require huge expenses, thus make them run for outside sponsors. 

• However, the IGP should be aware that the opposite is the norm in every district police department which have given owners' of illegal businesses leeway to run their businesses without any fear of the police.

• Apart from sponsoring, they also pay the district police departments a huge amount (not less than 5 digits) of money every month. These payments are for the police to turn a blind eye on their illegal businesses and even atrocities against their rivals.

Logistical conundrum and user-unfriendly intranet system

On the other hand, the failure of the logistics department of RMP to supply all the necessary paraphernalia for his men to conduct their investigation or policing effectively, has also caused them to depend on ill-gotten money from the under-world bosses. 

The paraphernalia ranging from printers, computers, lap tops, airconds, tables, chairs and even A4 papers! So, this logistical conundrum becomes the perfect excuse for most of the officers to accept bribes without an iota of shame.

  

(OSTB : Underworld bosses supply computers, laptops, A4 paper to the Police? This is news to me.)

These age old corrupt practices have slowly morphed into a vicious cycle when the dissatisfied and frustrated group of police officers turn to these illegal business owners to entertain their bosses in the police department. 

They entertain their bosses for  quick promotions, thus bypassing more deserving and law abiding seniors with clean and impressive track records. 

When the law-abiding, hardworking and righteous officers witness this kind of rot day in and day out, they tend to join the corrupt ones!  

(OSTB : Again if that is the case this means they are also corrupted. You cannot refer to them as uncorrupted officers. Others being unfair is no excuse for becoming corrupt.)

Not to forget, a stable and fast Police Reporting System (PRS), a police intranet system, is imperative for the Police Investigation Officers (IO) to conduct their investigation much faster and efficiently. 

With the current PRS system, which is not only slow most of the time but also not stable, added with other severe logistical shortages, the IOs conduct their investigations half-heartedly and most of the time fail to achieve the targeted number of charges against the offenders. 

Solutions

Without a doubt, the shortage of logistics - supplies and a not-so-friendly intranet system, negatively affect the Police officers. Therefore, it should be addressed without procrastination. Possibly Gobind Singh Deo, Minister of Multimedia and Communication could lend a hand on the improvement of PRS. 

The logistical conundrum depends on the budget of course. Is RM7.1 billion (as in the 2019 budget) for RMP insufficient for the logistical needs of the police in the country? Do the maths and come up with a quick suggestion if not solution please.  

For the lopsided promotions, the government should consider the abolishment of the unfair interview system for promotions - from the rank of Inspector to ASP (Assistant Superintendent of Police) and ASP to DSP  (Deputy Superintendent of Police). 

It would be much better to introduce an automatic promotion system which take into account the number of years in service, merit and the proven track record of the officers. 

Interference by the politicians in this matter should be stopped at all costs as this would create unwarranted cronyism and nepotism in the police force.  

Certain requirements or conditions also should be full-filled by officers to be eligible for “Acting” for the next higher rank. Among other things, the officers should have served certain years in the current rank or had performed extraordinarily before being considered for “Acting” posts. If these criteria are not taken into account at this stage, the RMP would be run by a host of corrupted, inexperienced and self-serving hypocrites.