LETTER | Equip our police, immigration officers with bodycams

LETTER | First the use of body cameras (bodycams) for the local police for accountability and transparency - next the installation of functioning CCTVs in all police lockups, police and immigration vehicles, immigration detention centres, prisons and Sosma detainees.

The recent announcement by the Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail comes at a moment when it is truly possible for the much-needed reforms to take place, particularly in our police force.

On Jan 26, 2017, I was privileged to have visited the Charing Cross police station in London to observe for myself the working conditions and also lockups in the station - as well as the use of bodycams worn by officers to prevent abuses by rogue cops and protect excellent ones.

I was impressed by the use of the bodycams by the officers in the Charing Cross Police Station and began to lobby in our Parliament for our men and women in blue to also utilise this technology as a form of accountability.

Imagine my delight when former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad committed to ensuring our police officers were equipped with them during Pakatan Harapan’s tenure in 2019.

Going back three decades, in 1984, due to some abuse of processes by the police, the UK Government introduced the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which sets guidelines for all police stations from custody to detention.

Fast forward to Malaysia, under three prime ministers in the past - Mahathir, Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri Yaakob - announcements have been made on the process of the purchase of these bodycams but the then-home minister did not give a straight answer when I confronted him in the Dewan Rakyat.

I would like to remind the government and our home minister to make the same commitment to ensure that all lock-ups, prisons, detention centres, prisons where Sosma detainees are held, as well as vehicles used by the police and Immigration Department are installed with functioning CCTVs, which is “tamper-proof” to ensure that bad practices are weeded out and any form of unsubstantiated slander and lies can be successfully challenged in court by both victim and the alleged perpetrator.

How many more rape cases and sexual assaults in lockups must we read about until something is done? How many more stories of brutality at the hands of rogue officers have resulted in custodial deaths?

How many more cases of torture of Sosma detainees and also those held in lockups, prisons and detention centres must continue to be read before something serious is done?

And It was most unbecoming of a former home minister who trivialised the number of custodial deaths in Malaysia stating that it is “not that high”.

Most importantly, the exercise to install bodycams and hopefully, functioning CCTVs are not merely physical fixtures but instead acts to instil dignity in detainees, police and immigration officers.

Bodycams and functioning CCTVs protect every person in contact with each other from malicious allegations.

It is in no way to undermine nor to break the spirit of our police and immigration officers but instead to uphold the rule of law, justice, fairness and human rights and most importantly as a preventive measure to any form of brutality and violence in our lockups, detention centres and even police and immigration vehicles in Malaysia.

Nevertheless, first-world infrastructure and technology must be tightly accompanied by changes and reforms in approach, culture, practices and mindset by our enforcement officers and I am confident that we will achieve it - given the right amount of political will exercised by the executive, police and immigration forces in Malaysia.

Let us be reminded too of our position in the United Nations Human Rights Council as well as steps to be taken by the government to ratify the United Nations Convention Against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT).

A new government in power also means a fresh start to right what was wrong and bring changes to systems, policies and the law.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.