The police force was under fire today after a special commission charged that it was riddled with corruption from top to bottom.

The commission on police reform found that graft existed at every level and police lacked the resources to enforce law and order effectively, commission chairperson Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah was quoted as saying by the local media.

"Corrupt practices involve officers and personnel at all levels," he said after handing the commission's preliminary report to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday.

The commission also discovered that there had been excessive force used against suspects under arrest, the official Bernama news agency reported.

"The commission will look into cases of death while in police detention and compliance of lock-up procedures," Dzaiddin was quoted as saying.

Disciplinary problem

Feedback from 26 public inquiries across the country and meetings with non-governmental organisations had indicated several areas that needed looking into.

"Firstly, there is an obvious disciplinary problem among police officers and personnel. This is complicated by the fact that they do not understand and do not carry out their duties correctly," Dzaiddin said.

"The failure to act fast is one factor that makes the police force weak," he said.

Abdullah, who pledged to make the fight against graft a top priority when he took over from Dr Mahathir Mohamad last October, set up the commission late last year.