Poll: Almost 80 % angry with police/Culaan laman web polis: 80% marah dengan polis

Policemen were once viewed as pillars of society, their standing earning them not just obedience but also respect from the public.

However, those days are long gone.

That is, if the results of a recent survey by the Home Ministry (better known by its Malay acronym of KDN) are to be believed.

The survey which ran from Aug 19 to Sept 3 on the ministry’s website is part of a running series which featured topics falling under the ministry’s area of responsibility.

This particular poll asked respondents five questions pertaining to the police. Each question had two to three answers to choose from.

According to the poll, 76 percent of respondents feel angery every time they see a police officer.

If this view is indicative of our present society, this does not bode well for the image of the police in the eyes of the public.

Of the rest of the respondents, half chose ‘respect’ as the feeling that is evoked by seeing a police officer while the other half chose ‘fear’.

Out of some 1,500 respondents, 70 percent also chose the answer that they had bribed police officers while under duress.

This might indicate that corruption is still quite widespread in our law enforcement.

The majority of the respondents, 91 percent, also said that the police should conduct more patrols.

The focus on patrols seems to mirror the public’s worry over the rising national crime rate.

Another 81 percent agreed that criminals nowadays are more ‘creative’. However, what was meant by ‘creativity’ was not defined in the poll.

The public’s appreciation of the ‘creativity’ of criminals might be a reaction to increasingly resourceful methods that criminals are employing.

Independent body to monitor police

Almost 90 percent of the respondents indicated that they believe the government should establish an independent and external body to monitor the performance of the police force.

One such body, the Independent Police Complaints and Misconducts Commission (IPCMC) has long been demanded by civil society in the face of allegations of misconduct and custodial deaths at the hands of the police.

KDN, which has a news team, conducted an exclusive interview with ex-Bukit Aman CID director Zaman Khan, who lamented the “public’s apparent loss of respect for the police.”

Zaman however agreed that the police should focus more on patrols, “I have always said in my time that (having) more police stations is not necessarily better, what is more important is more frequent patrol.”

He rubbished the poll’s finding that criminals are more ‘creative’, “Desperate people often resort to more daring measures.”

Zaman also scoffed at the poll’s findings of corruption in the force, saying that it takes two to tango, “Both the receiver and the giver are at fault. You can’t blame only the police!”

Films influence lifestyles

Another survey, which ran from Aug 9 to Oct 10, revealed that 61 percent of some 300 respondents believe that films should not be censored.

The National Censorship Board is no longer relevant in performing its function of film censorship, said 67 percent of respondents.

Over 70 percent believe that films can influence thinking and lifestyle.

Hazlan Zakaria/Mkini