Highlighting an oft-repeated slogan that the police have inseparable ties with the community, Razarudin expressed regret that the men in blue have been involved in “one or two” cases which have “really troubled the community” this year.

“You should just take off your badge and get lost. What are you in the police force for?” he said during a meeting with senior officers and district police chiefs from Peninsular Malaysia at the Police College in Cheras yesterday.

“It’s unfortunate that this kind of behaviour still exists.”

Razarudin also told the district police chiefs that he wants “on the spot” reports from them if any of their officers are found to have breached the police’s code of conduct.

Reminding his officers to carry out their duties responsibly, he pointed out that recent technological innovations meant that the public can easily monitor the police force.

“People are watching us closely with gadgets, if not with their mobile phones, then the dash cams in their vehicles… front and back (cameras),” he said.

“There are vehicles which have dashcam (cameras which record the) inside of the vehicle, too.

“We shouldn’t be so foolish. This isn’t like previous years, when the Royal Malaysia Police acted as if they were ‘kings in Malaysia’. No way.”

His comments come two days after three traffic policemen were arrested in Perak to facilitate an investigation into a case involving a British couple who were allegedly offered a “discount” for speeding.

The incident came to light after the couple shared a dashcam video of the incident on their YouTube channel “TREAD the globe”, in which a traffic policeman accused them of driving at 80kph in a 60kph zone and said he had to issue them a summons.

He then offered to “reduce” the RM300 summons, which he said could be paid at a police station, to an on-the-spot “fine” of RM100.

The couple were seen expressing confusion about whether they were speeding, but agreeing that it was better to have paid the “discounted summons” than to go to a police station.