The daily sent a reporter undercover to buy items supposedly exclusive to the police force, and he pulled off the shopping spree with flying colours.
“A police uniform cost RM150, the three-stripe Sergeant insignia was RM20, an Inspector peak cap RM120, a police leather belt RM50, a service baton for RM20 and a police reflective vest for RM50.
“The storekeeper packed everything without a single question and even told me to come again,” said the reporter, of a shop in Pekan Sungai Besi.
The reporter had not produced any police identification card whatsoever to secure these items and had walked into the shop clad in a pair of jeans, T-shirt and black aviators.
Another shop which tailors police uniforms, also in Sungai Besi, demanded for the reporter’s “police” identification card, and refused to entertain him when he said he wasn’t a cop.
He then tried his luck at the Pertama Complex in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and managed to purchase a police vest, which came with the letters “polis”, Velcro patches and integrity crests, from a shop there.
The saleswoman was reportedly hesitant after the writer told her he was not a cop (that too, after she had issued a receipt for the purchase), but relented after seeing the money.
Even the police siren was available for purchase in a vehicle accessories shop in Sentul, said the report.