Disciplinary actions were initiated against 754 police personnel and 98 were relieved of their duties last year, according to the 2002 Police Commission report.

The report, tabled in Parliament yesterday, stated that among those sacked were three chief inspectors while the rest were primarily lance corporals.

The statistics showed an increase of 177 cases or 30.7 percent compared to the previous year. In 2001, 577 police personnel were subjected to disciplinary action.

According to the report, 145 police personnel were punished for 'erring in their duties' but this was not elaborated. It added that 48 others were involved in graft cases.

The report also said there was a police personnel taken to task for rape, another for concealing his/her marital status and one for 'creating fear'.

Other offences

Other offences that landed the personnel in hot soup, were inefficiency, irresponsibility and tarnishing the police force's image.

However, the report stressed that those who were punished constituted a mere 0.89 percent of the total police personnel in the country.

It attributed the increase in cases to its disciplinary committee, which had acted more effectively in the past year.

Meanwhile, the report also revealed that a total of 3,577 men and 83 women were recruited last year from 38,434 and 2,283 applications respectively.

The Police Commission is headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

It was established under Article 140 of the Federal Constitution to handle the appointment, confirmation, promotion, transfer and retirement of police personnel.

The commission is also required to table an annual report to the Parliament as stipulated under Article 146 (1) of the constitution.

Last week, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department M Kayveas said the Home Ministry - which oversees the police force - topped the list of 22 ministries against which complaints of corruption were received.

Responding to this later, Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung said most of the corruption cases involved police personnel.