IT took a cabinet meeting to decide that Chinese New Year decorations at SM Pusat Bandar Puchong 1 can stay. That’s how high a trivial matter had to go, to set things right.
Police are now back-pedalling on their earlier advice to remove the decorations when they should not have gotten involved in the first place. It was really a school administrative matter at the most.
It is ironic that the Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador had earlier lamented the unnecessary time they spend on investigating matters like this when they keep entangling themselves in trivial matters.
The aura of being confident in not investigating trivial matters is lacking. Hopefully, this case will spur the police to prioritise cases according to the seriousness of a matter at hand.
Even the knee-jerk reaction to investigate the letter that started the CNY decorations issue should be reconsidered. The letter, by itself, has no clear ingredients of an offence as it qualifies itself at the end to refer to the authorities for further action.
The prerogative to write such a letter should be respected, too. It did not amount to criminal intimidation although the author threatened to refer the matter to the authorities, implying that a police report may be lodged. In doing so, he expects the principal to be inconvenienced by the authorities.
This mode of subtle intimidation has become the modus operandi of our sociopolitical landscape now. The fact that the police take it upon themselves to react to all political sensitivities is now a weapon free for all to exploit.
Prioritising cases is essential if police are to be effective in carrying out their core roles and functions. Using all the initial tools of investigations and enquiries for all matters that are reported, can be tedious and a waste of time, as rightly pointed out by the IGP.
At times, parties keep lodging reports at their whims and fancies so as to get the police to inconvenience and annoy their opponents. Police indulgence can embolden these parties to keep lodging reports. This approach must be dealt with firmly by way of holding everyone concerned accountable for false reports whenever it can be proven.
Police have to prioritise cases using their discretion to classify reports that are frivolous, unclear ingredients of an offence, trivial matters, etc, as unworthy of further investigations.
This should be done from the outset when police reports are lodged. Those that fall under this category, should be immediately classified as “No Further Action”, “No Offence Disclosed” and “Refer to Other Agency” etc.
All these initial classifications are totally at the discretion of the police. However, they have to be firm and fair to all parties when they decide so.
The police must exercise restraint and caution when calling up witnesses for statements wantonly. Apart from the immense inconvenience it causes to the man on the street, it also creates a stigma of suspicion. It can be traumatic for the public.
Statements should only commence when an offence has been disclosed and duly classified under our laws. Probing a possibility of an offence using all the tools of investigative powers can be a grave injustice, annoyance and great inconvenience to everyone.
Politicians who thrive on the communal platform seem to be constantly trying to misuse police powers to inconvenience others. It sums up the IGP’s frustration in dealing with them.
The Puchong school matter should have been left to the school administration and their superiors. The police have enough on their hands as it is. – January 9, 2020.
* G. Selva reads The Malaysian Insight.
* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.
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