GEORGE TOWN, Oct 12 — The number of police officers who have abused their powers and become involved with crime syndicates is less than 1 per cent of the entire force, Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said today.
The inspector-general of police conceded that there were rogue officers, but said action is being taken to weed them out.
“I was the narcotics director previously and it is true that there were officers who were involved in syndicates and we had to take special preventive measures,” he told reporters after officiating the marine police’s 76th anniversary celebrations in Batu Uban here.
However, he said the number of officers involved were very few.
“If we look at this year, as at August, the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission only arrested 90 officers,” he said.
Even internally, the number of investigation papers or disciplinary reports filed totalled only 881 cases out of the whole police force of over 30,000.
“This means the number of cases are only 0.6 per cent.
“It is not right if I talk about this and no action was taken to resolve this issue,” Razarudin said.
He admitted that the police need to resolve this issue for its own reputation and to restore public confidence in the force.
Razarudin also said that any position in the police force is a sensitive post.
“All positions in the police force are sensitive because any policeman with power can abuse his power,” he said.
He said this meant that any policeman from any department or unit can be involved in corruption.
He said this is why he will not compromise if any policeman is involved in abuse of power or corruption, including other disciplinary issues.
Weighing in on a widely shared video clip that purportedly showed police investigators beating up a narcotics suspect in Selangor recently, Razarudin said he has ordered the state police chief to investigate the custodial assault fairly.
