More Than Mere Rebranding Of Police Force Needed To Regain Public Confidence

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said Wednesday the 200-year-old Royal Malaysia Police has to undergo rebranding to regain public confidence in its credibility. "I have to make changes for the better for the rebranding of the force," he said in an interview on the "Selamat Pagi Malaysia" programme over Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) in conjunction with the bicentennial Police Day on March 25.

Musa said the first step in the rebranding exercise would be to introduce the new vision and mission of the force in conformity with the theme of Police Day activities, "Royal Malaysia Police Towards Global Distinction". In principle, the aspects emphasised by him included enhancing the level of training of newly recruited police officers and men.

Musa said he also aspired to upgrade the efficiency of investigation by the police and its forensics unit in view of the transnational nature of crime involving international syndicates.

He also wanted to improve the service scheme of the force in a move to attract more people into building themselves a career in the field of policing.

Musa said a fresh sense of integrity would be instilled in the 97,000 officers and men of the force by bringing them closer to the people, particularly youths, as a proactive measure to keep the people away from crime.

He noted that international syndicates used the country as a transit point for activities such as prostitution, drug trafficking and firearms smuggling, and movement of criminals. As such, the force had taken the proactive measure of seeking the people's cooperation in feeding it information on such activities through the Rakan Cop programme that has been expanded to cover the whole country last year, he said.

Furthermore, he said, the police had also taken the initiative to bolster the scientific methods of retrieving criminal evidence to ensure that detained suspects did not escape prosecution. (Bernama)

***** I applaud the IGP for openly admitting the lack of confidence the public has in the police force as well as the need for changes to be made. However rebranding merely addresses the superficial issues involved. What is more important is purposeful structural changes which must be instituted in tandem with the rebranding exercise. How that can be successfully accomplished is of course another story.

While attempting to correct the image problem affecting the entire force from top to bottom, the police must not be merely seen as having 'improved' but must show results that it indeed has permanently left its scandal marred past behind. It'll take more than just a change of uniform, logo or motto or a public-relations and confidence building blitz to convince a people who harbour deep distrust and dislike of the police as a whole. The perception, however wrong, that many of our cops are basically thugs and bribe-takers in uniform is not easy to erase.

For a start wouldn't it be good for the IGP to show that he and his men are sincere and mean business by adopting the recommendations of the IPCMC? Expecting the government to pronounce on this at some unspecified future date is, as we all now know, absolutely futile and pointless. As far as the IPCMC is concerned, our government has totally lost its (ball) bearings.
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An interesting read here from: Bangkit.net