Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohd Bakri Omar has been criticised for 'missing' a key point in his insistence for station chiefs (OCS) to produce faster and better investigations into custodial deaths.

Contacted yesterday, human rights group Suaram coordinator S Arutchelvan (left) said as a general rule, nobody is motivated to produce any report in which they or their colleagues are incriminated.

Hence, he said it was irrelevant of Bakri to breathe down the necks of the country's 196 OCSs and warn them of disciplinary action for not completing and submitting Sudden Death Reports (SDR) of police detainees.

Arutchelvan was responding to Bakri's speech on Monday at a seminar for senior police officers in Cheras where he took to task those who delayed submitting SDR and arson cases.

Anwar's case

The activist said as OCSs are in charge of police lock-ups, they cannot be expected to impartially and promptly investigate and report on deaths occurring under their watch.

Deaths in custody, he noted, are generally the fault of the police "either because of negligence or they themselves are involved," on account of which "the tendency to cover up is definitely there."

"Under the CPC (Criminal Procedure Code), the police have to investigate and give a report to the magistrate. What kind of report will the police give?" he asked.

He said such warnings have often been touted by the IGPs before Bakri (right).

Citing the case of deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim who in 1998 was assaulted while in prison by then-IGP Abdul Rahim Nor, Arutchelvan asked which police officer would write a report implicating, in particular, their superiors.

"Taking the example of the Anwar beating, although he did not die, how do you expect the police to come out with a report when the IGP himself was involved?" he said.

According to Arutchelvan, this demonstrates the need for the Independent Police Misconduct and Complaints Commission (IPCMC) as an external oversight body that could issue further recommendations to reduce incidences of abuse.

He said the police chief's opposition to the IPCMC contradicted his public statements on the need for the force to improve.

Shoddy investigations

Similarly, Bar Council chairperson Yeo Yang Poh said police personnel can rarely be relied on to investigate their colleagues impartially.

In view of this, he noted that the IPCMC should be urgently established.

On another matter, Yeo agreed with the need for senior police officers and investigating officers to buck up on their investigative work and provide quality evidence to the Public Prosecutor.

While Bakri had warned of action if police officers neglected their work and came up with shoddy investigations, Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail was reported in the Star to have said that prosecution would not proceed with sketchy evidence.

However, Yeo disagreed with the claims, contained in a Bernama report quoting an unnamed senior police officer that deputy public prosecutors (DPP) were equally at fault for accepting incomplete investigation papers.

"The DPP can and often do send back the papers and say 'look, we need more evidence on this issue," said Yeo when contacted.

"I'm not saying that the fault lies entirely on one party, but investigations, generally speaking, are the work, proper or not, of the police.

"In the past, the police have been extremely slow in investigating. In certain cases, where they can complete investigations in two weeks, it sometimes took several months, even a year, to complete a SDR," he added.

It was reported on Saturday that while 80 people died in police custody from Jan 2000 to Dec 2004, there were only six inquests held over the same period.