KUALA LUMPUR: Over half a million inspections have been carried out by the federal police Integrity and Standards Compliance Department (JIPS) on policemen throughout the country in 2023, as steps towards strengthening the integrity of the force.
Its director, Datuk Seri Azri Ahmad, said this to address concerns regarding transparency and accountability in handling incidents of misconduct among policemen in light of recent events.
"We are being proactive," Azri said in an exclusive interview with the New Straits Times' Beyond the Headlines.
"It's my department's job and having 134,000 personnel (to watch over) — inclusive of civilian staff also working in the police force — we do have all the data to show that the (inspection of standards and compliance) process is there and being done, to strengthen the integrity of the force throughout the year.
"All the data shows that all the SOPs are in place."
However, despite these efforts, Azri acknowledged that challenges persist, pointing to a recent case of extortion involving personnel. He argued that without these measures, the situation might be worse.
"Things still happen and they get reported in the news. I even asked myself what happened… after all we have done and put in place and one thing that I can conclude probably, is that maybe it'd be worse if nothing is being done.
"But of course for me it's easy to say 'go back to the drawing board' to analyse what went wrong.
"For example, our personnel involved in the Ambank case, in the extortion case. He was new to service (but) not yet confirmed.
"Here's when we have to question ourselves, to review our intake of the rank and file (non-officers).
"Like yesterday (Feb 1) when the country's IGP (inspector-general of police) called for a special meeting, he came up with the idea that we need to (start) looking into the people that are coming into the police force… whether they have integrity in them really intact."
The police, added Azri, are pursuing collaborative efforts between departments in being more transparent and holding personnel accountable for misconduct.
He highlighted that it was imperative to address issues of integrity promptly to improve public perception and maintain trust in the force, particularly when incidents are reported in the media.
