Saifuddin: Police body cam procurement in final stages

 

The tender process for procuring body cameras for the police is in its final stages, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said.

“We are in the final stages of the procurement process. The (open tender) process takes time as the camera specifications were changed several times.

“I have given clear orders to the procurement committee to not delay the process further and expedite it after the open tender is conducted, and we hope it will be concluded very soon,” Saifuddin (above) told a press conference in Putrajaya today.

Last October, Saifuddin told Parliament that the police force is expected to fully utilise body cameras from 2025.

In a written parliamentary reply, he said this was based on the timeline for the government to procure and test the equipment, as well as provide training to police officers on how to use them.

The government had approved an allocation of RM30 million in 2021 for police to obtain body cameras, which officers will use in their daily policing duties.

The police force has come under the spotlight recently, albeit for the wrong reasons.

These include rape, extortion, and hit-and-run cases involving the men in blue.

Rights group Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (Madpet) recently called for all police officers to be equipped with body cameras in the next three months.

Madpet spokesperson Charles Hector said it has been more than a year since the budget was passed for police to acquire body cameras, yet there continue to be extrajudicial killings by the police.