The case of the 11 senior citizens being shaven bald would not have occurred if the police used their energies to combat more serious crimes like murder and attempted rape.

It seems that the Squatgate scandal and also the reports of the two commissions have made some police officials annoyed with the public.

The police are also resistant to the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) as there are four bodies to monitor them. I agree that having four bodies can result in duplication and just passing the buck. Perhaps there should be only an Internal Affairs Department and the IPCMC. Suhakam can be an interested party for human rights issues.

What is now needed is for the police to publish all their Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) so that the public can be assured that they are being fairly treated by the police. All SOPs except those involving grave national security must be public knowledge so we do not have to waste so much energy on trivial cases like a simple gambling offence.

It would seem that if you play any game and keep a score, even Scrabble could become a gambling charge.

The other issue that bothers me is that these old men were jailed as they could only attend court the next day to post bail since they wanted to claim trial.

We should consider establishing a night courts system so that no one needs to be jailed before making a plea. I am sure we have all seen the American programmes like NYPD Blues where people are hauled before judges of a night court. We don't have to travel far to study how the night courts operate.

Such a system will also clear up the huge backlog of cases pending. We should start with having a night court in all the major cities like KL, Ipoh, Penang, Malacca and Johor Bahru; followed by all the state capitals.

That would benefit the population more than sending a man to outer space.