Poser over police escort abuse

WITH only a grin and a smug look on his face, a young man managed to bring the police force into disrepute.

The viral video a few days ago shows the man in a private vehicle along Jalan Bukit Gambir in Penang speeding past a red light accompanied by two police outriders.

Obviously pleased with the VIP treatment he received, the man (reputedly the son of a Member of Parliament) posted the video on social media and in this digital age, there’s no hiding when you do something like that.

The post caused an uproar and quickly went viral.

The use of outriders is usually confined to royalty and senior government officials.

The fact that an ordinary Malaysian has access to a specialised police service is hard to comprehend and worrying.

The two outriders were subsequently placed on desk duty pending an internal investigation, but serious questions about the entire episode remain.

Why and who assigned the two policemen to escort the politician’s son?

Could they have acted on their own and were paid for their services? And, how often has specialised police escort services been abused?

One suspects that there’s more to the incident than meets the eye.

The Penang police have said they are investigating, but it beggars belief that such a serious breach of protocol could have been committed without the higher-ups being aware.

It’s incidences such as this that give greater urgency to the setting up of the Independent Police Complaint and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) without further delay.

The IPCMC is a police oversight body first proposed by the Royal Commission of Inquiry to improve the police force in 2005.

The body is to function as an independent and external oversight organisation to investigate complaints about Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) personnel.

It has been 17 years, but successive governments have failed to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission.

So, just who is eligible for police outrider service?

According to the law, other than the King and other members of royalty, only the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the four Senior Ministers are assigned outriders.

There is a caveat though that the Home Minister and Defence Minister are given outrider protection for security reasons. In order to be included in this exclusive list, you must have the consent of the Inspector-General of Police.

The rest of the 25 ministers and 38 deputy ministers are not given permanent outriders but can request for them for official functions.

The fact is there are too many outriders out there when they could be better served enforcing the law and protecting the community.

A day or two after the viral Penang video, another surfaced about a man who blocked a VIP escort.

He was arrested but his story has also gone viral with many netizens calling the man a hero. He was subsequently sentenced to 12 days jail and fined RM10,000.

Of course, his actions were illegal and could have endangered other road users, but this about sums up the sentiment on the ground for frustrated Malaysians who perceive two separate and different rules – one for the common man and another for politicians and VIPs.

And this blatant abuse of power isn’t even subtle.

Social media has enabled entitled children of VIPs and politicians to show off and how they act with impunity. They are seldom brought to task.

On the topic of outriders, there was another incident that caught my attention.

An outrider for the Tengku Mahkota of Johor was filmed giving way for an ambulance recently.

Nothing unusual you may think, but then again this is Malaysia where a VIP motorcade stops for no one.

There have been cases in the past that even ambulances with their sirens blaring have had to stop for police escorts.

This is truly sad because it is common knowledge that everyone, with no exceptions, gives way to an ambulance.

So, why are we applauding the outrider who gave way to the ambulance? It should be the norm, not the exception.

Perhaps the SOP for police escorts need to be made clearer to the public.

We don’t begrudge the usage of outriders, but it would be good to be reminded of the protocol involved when a VIP motorcade is on the road. And it should also be clearly spelt out as to who is and isn’t entitled to a police escort.

We now await the completion of investigations into the police personnel who breached these security protocols.

The authorities have also yet to confirm if action will be taken against the person who misused the outrider privilege.