What happened to the high committee investigation into the police shooting of a Malaysian kid in Shah Alam?

We need our police - they are crucial for our safety - but what we worry about is when the police jeopardise our safety. It has always been said that it’s better to let a thousand criminals escape than to endanger one innocent person.

Isn’t it ironical that when Amirulrasyid was shot dead by the police, everyone including the top brass were very quick to justify the killing by claiming he was a parang -wielding criminal who had reversed into the police. And now the IGP is stating that the police saying sorry will have legal implications, but I believe it should work both ways.

In this context, the standing orders for police to draw their guns is deeply flawed. The standing orders as reported in the press go like this:

‘Police draw their guns when they believe they (or other people) are in imminent danger of serious injury or death when apprehending a suspect believed to have committed an offence punishable by life imprisonment or death’.

But the police can’t and shouldn’t decide whether a person has committed an offence punishable by death as that’s for the courts to decide. It’s not up to police in hot pursuit to decide that, because even someone looking at a two-month prison term might run from the police. Do they deserve to be shot?

If that’s the case, why do we bother with courts and an attorney-general’s chambers. This is where the major problem lies. There have been many cases where suspects have been shot and it was alleged that they were putting the police in danger, but no one knows the truth since none of these cases have been investigated by a third party or other government bodies.

The police standing orders also seem to put the safety of the public below the safety of the police. Policemen who are trained and well-equipped have nothing to fear from a car running away.

Of course, none of us would even raise a whimper if the police shot armed robbers endangering civilian lives. I remember always thinking when some robbers get shot in the act, I say to myself padan muka . Good riddance.

There should be an automatic inquiry by an independent body who know police work and how they operate after all shooting incidents.

A policeman’s primary and only duty is to protect the safety of the public. It is not a voluntary

job, they get paid for it. If the public’s expectations of them to be more careful and be not so trigger happy saddens them – then maybe they should try a different career. Postmen’s salaries are higher now, so maybe that would be a safer job to switch to?