KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 1,671 police officers and personnel have been dismissed from their jobs over the past 10 years, Bukit Aman Department of Integrity and Standards Compliance (JIPS) director Azri Ahmad said.
During the same period, from 2014 to June this year, 15,546 officers and policemen had also been subjected to various disciplinary actions, while 40,436 disciplinary inquiry papers and investigation papers were opened, he added.
“In terms of compliance, approximately 10,000 to 20,000 police personnel are monitored and directly inspected from time to time by the Compliance Branch of JIPS.
“The priority is on frontline personnel who interact directly with the public to ensure they perform their duties in compliance with laws, regulations, directives, and standard operating procedures (SOPs),” said Mr Azri during the celebration of a decade of JIPS establishment at Bukit Aman on Thursday (Jul 26)
He added: “Any officer found to be engaging in misconduct will be dealt with accordingly. The basic principle is that the more frequent the inspections, the higher the level of prevention.”
Mr Azri said that throughout last year alone, 19,352 officers and personnel were inspected, with 1,396 individuals found to have committed various misconducts.
And from January to June this year, 11,221 officers and personnel were inspected, with 689 individuals detected for various misconducts.
Mr Azri said that the JIPS Intelligence and Operations Branch, which plays a key role as a detection and verification unit, has also carried out thousands of operations and made arrests of 798 police officers believed to be involved in various offences such as gambling, drugs, and inappropriate visits to entertainment centres.
Over the past 10 years too, he said JIPS had received and handled nearly 50,000 complaints and information, particularly related to issues of corruption, abuse of power, and misconduct.
Earlier in May, two senior police officers were charged in court with accepting a bribe of RM1 million (US$215,000) from a businessman to close an investigation allegedly linked to the purchase of firearms by an Israeli citizen, local media reported.
Separately, six policemen – including senior officers – were allegedly found to be working together and arrested in connection to a RM1.25 million extortion case in the country.