During a recent visit to Kuala Lumpur (KL) to meet with colleagues to discuss cases of shared interest and any new developments in law, I was struck by the topic of whether the police are required to take a statement from a potential claimant/victim.
What I understood was that KL police often fail to take statement from potential victims for no other reason other than to not increase their work loads and often the result of bribery by alleged offenders.
Police Commander Datuk Allaudeen Abdu Majid takes a strong stance calling in the Integrity and Standards Compliance Department to investigate individual police officers and their senior ranking station bosses to first uncover the extent of the “rort” and to put a stop to it forthwith.
Police officers all around the World swear an oath to uphold the law.
If a person complains to a police officer that an alleged offence has been committed it is the duty of the police officer to listen to the complainant and to take notes to determine whether a prima facie (defined as sufficient on first impression) case exists and if so to progress the investigation.
Being turned away by the police
The problem of police failing to take a complainant seriously has been reported to me over the last decade by 100s of individuals telephoning the practice for the first time. The caller describes to me what they are complaining about, that they had gone to their local police station and the desk officer had simply turned them away.
It is well established that the WA Police have well established protocols for taking a complaint and make an initial assessment of whether a prima facie case is exists. If the complaint is serious often a senior office will be called down to hear what the complainant has to say.
Brief of evidence
I can say that in the 100s of complaints that I have received I recall only two occasions where I felt the considered had a compelling case against an individual and on that basis prepared what can be termed a Brief-of-Evidence sent to police. In both instances the police responded with a full investigation resulting in the conviction of an accused.
Western Australian police are professional individuals
Let me be clear there is no suggestion here that the reasons given for KL Police to refrain from investigating complaints exist here. It is often quite the opposite here. I sometimes scratch my head and wonder why the client was charged it the first place. WA Police are often well trained but in all cases highly professional individuals, and this is coming from a defence lawyer.
