Enforcement officers relate how they often face abuse while carrying out their duties

VERBAL assault and even physical abuse is something Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) officers have to face in the line of duty.

Reports of officers being bullied and even assaulted can be very demotivating.

“I was threatened by a contractor when I issued him a summons for dirtying a public road,’’ said an officer when speaking to StarMetro on condition of anonymity.

“We went there following complaints by residents and saw his lorries muddying the road,” he said, adding that lorry drivers did not instal a wheel-washing system at the site as per the requirement.

“Instead of accepting the summons, the driver started shouting and cursing us.

“We were speechless as one of his men was recording us,” he said.

Another officer said illegal roadside traders started throwing chairs at him during one raid.

“They were obstructing tactile blocks put on the pavement meant to assist the blind.

“The chair came flying at me. Had I not moved away, it would have hit me in the eye,’’ he added.

A senior enforcement officer said that his officers also faced verbal abuse and threats from residents living in posh neighbourhoods who dropped names of VIPs.

A retired senior officer from DBKL’s Health and Environment Department recounted an incident where she had ordered an eatery in Kuala Lumpur to be shut down for cockroach and rat infestation.

She said her order was reversed the next day probably after the proprietor complained to a politician.

“I was told during the raid that he would complain to higher- ups,’’ she added.

When asked about allegations of corruption among government servants, she said there would always be some rotten apples in any organisation.

“But when you have a system that allows influential people and politicians to interfere with officers doing their jobs, it can be very demotivating,’’ she added.

“We can’t touch (take action against) the poor, we can’t touch the rich. It is a vicious cycle,’’ she added.

On DBKL’s plan to use body cameras, she said it would help keep both the officers and the public on their toes.

“At the very least they would be polite with each other as no one wants to be caught on camera doing something wrong,’’ she said. — By BAVANI M