ON May 31, Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani held a press conference about the movement-control order. He also spoke briefly about lock-up deaths.

Kini TV reported that he said “the police force is committed to making sure deaths in custody do not occur. The force is working to improve the way detainees are held. Health checks will also be conducted by police officers to ascertain a detainees health level.”

Astro Awani reported him saying suspects “should be taken for health screening before being placed in the lock-ups.”

There are other media reports. None mentions the medical examination mandated by the lock-up rules: an examination by a government doctor.

There are more than 400 active lock-ups. A total of 917,841 persons were put in lock-ups in 2018 (Home minister, parliamentary answer, July 20, 2020). How many doctors and staff are needed in order to comply with the lock-up rules?

None of the reports mentions a written statement. And therein lies the problem. Whatever Acryl said is open to interpretation.

Also, according to reports, Acryl said he welcomes investigations of custodial deaths-related misconduct by his officers by the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC). The reports don’t say, but he probably meant after a court decides on the cause of death.

As I’ve argued before, by law, police must conduct the investigations.

If the police wait for the EAIC, evidence may be lost or diluted. And, the wait will be long, because the EAIC must complete some processes before it begins to investigate. And, the EAIC needs misconduct allegations to be specific. And, if the EAIC begins, the police must stop. (EAIC Act, sections 17, 23 to 26)

Previously, police have “reinvestigated” EAIC’s work. Will this now change? Will EAIC officers testify in court?

Can the EAIC Act as rapidly as the police? Recall that the EAIC has 78 employees, while the police have about 140,000.

Meaning well isn’t enough. Doing well is needed.

Doing well means saying what the changes are, saying how the changes will be implemented, and saying when and where data will be published to show effectiveness.

Will the IGP show his officers and the public that he knows overuse of lock-ups is a key issue he must address? Will he do well? I hope he does. – June 4, 2021.

* Rama Ramanathan 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.