Why the police force needs more than a one-time reshuffle
Reshuffling the police force without constant monitoring and supervision backed by integrity, is useless.
By TK Chua
The Royal Malaysia Police are very much in the news today, due to the arrests of many of its personnel, among them senior officers, on suspicion of corruption and protecting drug and crime syndicates.
It is reported that a major reshuffle within the police force is currently underway to beef up the most important law enforcement agency in the country.
Since Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also the Home Minister, welcomes ideas, comments and suggestions from the people on measures to be undertaken by the police, I have taken this opportunity to give my two cents’ worth.
In my lifetime, I have seen and heard enough about reforms, restructuring, revamps, and reshuffling of government agencies whenever there are “upheavals” or unusual events happening.
But to my understanding, performance should not fluctuate. We need continuous commitment and consistency in purpose.
Rarely does periodic revamps or major reshuffling exercises do the job. What we need is a robust and state-of-the-art, day-to-day operating system able to tackle problems as they emerge.
In Malaysia, we hardly nip the problem in the bud. We allow the problem to fester and grow because we are not able to take care of them routinely. That is why we have always ended-up revamping, reshuffling and restructuring our organisations but without much success. Please allow me to elaborate.
What the police force needs most is a system that provides monitoring, reporting, supervision, and reprimanding on a continuous basis.
When the integrity of many police personnel is found wanting, it speaks volumes of the monitoring and supervision capabilities of their superior officers.
When some police personnel are found to be involved in protecting crime syndicates, would it be fair to say that their superior officers were “sleeping”?
When police officers “colluding” with members of crime syndicates go undetected, what does it say of the monitoring, reporting and supervision systems within the police force?
When some police officers have stayed too long and become too comfortable in a particular position, what does it imply about the competency levels of and initiative taken by their superior officers?
When the rank and file of the force are inefficient and corrupt, we must first look at the integrity of their superior officers. It is inconceivable that a corrupt senior officer would be able to supervise and reprimand the men under his care.
My take is that we should not just look for a one-time “reshuffle” to solve the problems in our police force. The police need vigilant leadership able to provide constant monitoring, reporting and supervision of their men on the ground. Reshuffling without monitoring and supervision backed by integrity, is useless.
TK Chua is an FMT reader.
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