On Monday, the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar announced that the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) is to set up a new department, to be known as the Integrity and Standard Compliance Department, to improve Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) compliance, including disciplinary procedures for police personnel.

The new department is expected to be fully operational in two months and would be led by a director with the rank of commissioner.

Khalid said the setting up of the department has been approved in principle and the police are in the midst of discussing with the Public Services Department on the recruitment of staff.

He said that with the department in place, the police hoped to improve the SOP compliance in all aspects of assignment, including disciplinary procedures for police personnel. Prior to this, disciplinary matters and procedures for police personnel were managed by the Management Department.

The proposed new Integrity and Standard Compliance Department has been subjected to severe, valid and pertinent criticism by the chief of the anti-crime group, MyWatch, R. Sanjeevan, who said the new department would only result in overlapping duties and a further waste of public funds for the hiring of new staff or the promotion of existing officers, when what the PDRM needs is not a new department to check its officers on SOP compliance but a total revamp of its existing set-up to improve crime-fighting efforts.

Sanjeevan contends that all matters involving police integrity and procedure compliance can be handled by PDRM’s existing Management Department, which already handles disciplinary breaches. Read the rest of this entry »