Highlights from 'Do we really need the IPCMC?' by Nicholas Chan
'The Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) recently rose to infamy due to the occurrence of a slew of death in custody cases in Malaysia, once again rallying public outcry for the setting up of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC). Minister in charge of Integrity and Corruption Paul Low was quick to tout the EAIC as if it were the IPCMC we never had, reportedly saying we don’t need another independent police oversight body because the EAIC is actually the IPCMC.'
'The truth is, the EAIC is more of a watered down version of the IPCMC...'
'No doubt both Commissions are mooted for the same vision of curbing police misconduct and upholding their accountability towards the public...'
'...the Royal Commission deemed it necessary for the IPCMC to have wider investigation powers, whereby it could initiate or instruct the police to initiate investigations over reports of misconduct by the police regardless of whether a public complaint was made. The EAIC does not enjoy this privilege as it is could only investigate cases of misconduct by law enforcement bodies only after a public complaint was filed...'
'But before we jump on this and dance wildly to the all familiar old tune that “the IPCMC must be established to redeem our once highly acclaimed police force!”, we must realised that Commissions by itself are rarely the panacea towards the misfits of a law enforcement body.
The Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was monitored by five oversight committees, and yet any palpable changes to the force remained as elusive as ever. Like the MACC, the IPCMC was routinely cited to be modelled upon a Hong Kong counterpart, the Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC), largely due to the city state’s success in combating corruption and setting up a modern and professional police force.'
'So why are we envious of the Hong Kong’s IPCC when in fact we have a more pervasive and powerful one? Or rather the question should be, how can we have an oversight body with more executive powers but still failed to achieve the police reforms everybody endears?
Like police brutality, it all boils down to the working culture. A quick research of the Hong Kong’s IPCC would have revealed their fantastic housekeeping and a culture of accountability. Annual reports, breakdown of number of cases investigated, nature of cases and the follow up actions taken on the cases are all available for the public’s scrutiny.
It would appear that the Commission is not just at work but is also proud of the work they do. This is what integrity, transparency and most importantly, competency is about.
As for our home-grown contender, the EAIC, the name does not even ring a bell until we have three deaths in custody cases in a short sprint of 11 days. There are no annual reports available at the commission’s website despite it is already the second year of the Commission’s inception and until a recent report by The Malaysian Insider, we would have no idea what the EAIC has been doing all along. How can a body that is established with the purpose of holding the police accountable to the public be effective if it itself is not accountable to the public?'
More:
http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/06/05/do-we-really-need-the-ipcmc/
Link
'The Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) recently rose to infamy due to the occurrence of a slew of death in custody cases in Malaysia, once again rallying public outcry for the setting up of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC). Minister in charge of Integrity and Corruption Paul Low was quick to tout the EAIC as if it were the IPCMC we never had, reportedly saying we don’t need another independent police oversight body because the EAIC is actually the IPCMC.'
'No doubt both Commissions are mooted for the same vision of curbing police misconduct and upholding their accountability towards the public...'
'...the Royal Commission deemed it necessary for the IPCMC to have wider investigation powers, whereby it could initiate or instruct the police to initiate investigations over reports of misconduct by the police regardless of whether a public complaint was made. The EAIC does not enjoy this privilege as it is could only investigate cases of misconduct by law enforcement bodies only after a public complaint was filed...'
'But before we jump on this and dance wildly to the all familiar old tune that “the IPCMC must be established to redeem our once highly acclaimed police force!”, we must realised that Commissions by itself are rarely the panacea towards the misfits of a law enforcement body.
The Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was monitored by five oversight committees, and yet any palpable changes to the force remained as elusive as ever. Like the MACC, the IPCMC was routinely cited to be modelled upon a Hong Kong counterpart, the Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC), largely due to the city state’s success in combating corruption and setting up a modern and professional police force.'
'So why are we envious of the Hong Kong’s IPCC when in fact we have a more pervasive and powerful one? Or rather the question should be, how can we have an oversight body with more executive powers but still failed to achieve the police reforms everybody endears?
Like police brutality, it all boils down to the working culture. A quick research of the Hong Kong’s IPCC would have revealed their fantastic housekeeping and a culture of accountability. Annual reports, breakdown of number of cases investigated, nature of cases and the follow up actions taken on the cases are all available for the public’s scrutiny.
It would appear that the Commission is not just at work but is also proud of the work they do. This is what integrity, transparency and most importantly, competency is about.
As for our home-grown contender, the EAIC, the name does not even ring a bell until we have three deaths in custody cases in a short sprint of 11 days. There are no annual reports available at the commission’s website despite it is already the second year of the Commission’s inception and until a recent report by The Malaysian Insider, we would have no idea what the EAIC has been doing all along. How can a body that is established with the purpose of holding the police accountable to the public be effective if it itself is not accountable to the public?'
More:
http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/06/05/do-we-really-need-the-ipcmc/
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