KUALA LUMPUR: THE culture of sponsorship in the police force is not only confined to top officers, but also includes their family members.
The Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) revealed yesterday that high-ranking cops were known to also seek favours from people under their command to entertain their spouses’ needs and wants.
In fact, such a culture existed among law enforcement agencies, and not just the police.
EAIC chairman Datuk Yaacob Md Sam said the commission was aware that such a culture, where top officers demand those under their command to “take care” of their trips, existed “among law enforcement agencies”, involving officers from all levels.
He said large amounts of money were involved, and the pressure on police officers who received orders for “sponsorship” was huge.
“EAIC is aware of the culture in enforcement agencies, where officers in states have to entertain their superiors whenever the higher-ranking officers are visiting. This culture does not only involve officers from all levels, but also their spouses.
“Such a culture leads to the need to fork out big amounts of money to fund activities planned for the officers, resulting in some enforcement officers having to turn to syndicates, who want to gain benefits from their connection with certain law enforcement agencies,” he told the New Straits Times.
Yaacob, who is also a Court of Appeal judge, said the situation brought by such practices would only weaken efforts to uphold the law, and could lead to selective enforcement.
He said it also would affect low-ranking officers’ finances.
“When the officers face financial difficulties due to this culture, they may turn to graft.”
Yaacob was responding to an exclusive story by the New Sunday Times that revealed that lower-ranking police officers were often asked to “sponsor” a higher-ranking officer’s visit to the state or district.
Sources said these high-ranking officers often expected to be entertained, and have their food and accommodation paid for when they arrived for a visit, whether in their official capacities or on holiday.
Unable to pay for such things, lower-ranking police officers, the sources claimed, were sometimes forced to look for “sponsors”, including criminal organisations.
Such a culture, the sources said, eventually led to these police officers coming under the “payrolls” of criminal organisations.
Federal police special operations to clean up the force of rogue cops working hand-in-glove with crime syndicates saw another officer and five rank-and-file policemen arrested on May 16.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Noor Rashid Ibrahim had, on Saturday, said the total number of suspects had increased to 21 since the operation started early this month.
Sources said the six, who were arrested by a team from Bukit Aman’s Special Task Force for Anti-Vice, Gaming and Gangsterism, comprised an inspector, a sergeant, a corporal, a lance corporal and two constables from the Narcotics Department.
“These men, like the ones arrested before, are believed to have been in cahoots with a syndicate, the members of which police have been hunting for some time,” said one source.
They are being investigated under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012, a preventive law that is used against terror suspects and in cases involving national security.