KUALA LUMPUR: Outdated criminal laws will be looked into to ensure that they are still relevant to current needs, says the Federal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Comm Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain.
“The police can only operate according to what has been described and prescribed in the law.
“I have suggested that this year, we look at laws that we feel are outdated so that they can be brought up to the ministerial level to ‘sharpen’ their effectiveness,” he said at a special media briefing yesterday.
“Among those that we have brought forward are laws like the Common Gaming Houses Act – the government is still studying its application,” he added.
He said the environment of gambling has changed drastically in recent times.
“While it is correct to say that the act of gambling itself falls under the jurisdiction of the police, legally there were also other factors related to gambling that fell under different ministries and jurisdictions.
“In the context of family entertainment centres and interactive entertainment centres, different states have different enactments. So in dealing with gambling issues, this is a barrier for the police as well.
“Also, gambling has now gone into the cyberworld which is far more challenging for the police because it has no borders,” he added.
Deputy CID director Deputy Comm Datuk Fadil Marsus, who was also at the briefing, said police also hoped to bring back certain provisions and laws to better aid them in the fight against crime.
“Laws like the Prevention of Crime Act (Poca). We hope that law enforcement can get this law back.
“Even the Security Offences (Special Measures) or Sosma, which we used to bust Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISB).
“It had been an issue on how the group was investigated under Sosma, which has been explained beforehand even at the Cabinet level.
“There is more that we need to equip law enforcement with on current needs, so that we can combat crime together,” he said.
Head of the Centre for the Study of Investigation and Prosecution Sciences at the Kuala Lumpur Police Academy Senior Asst Comm Mohd Fazley Ab Rahman said other ideas that were in the works included introducing “the spirit” of Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA) for repeat offenders.
“We want to take the spirit of Section 39(C) of the DDA where if the arrested person has three records of the same offence, he will automatically be given the mandatory punishment.
“This is among the laws we are suggesting where repeated offenders are given the mandatory punishment.
“The same goes for Poca where we know that it has been suspended and we can only rely on Sosma now.
“We know that when criminals act in a syndicate, they will look at legal loopholes.
“So we need preventive laws such as those in addition to those already at hand,” he said.
