The 34-million dollar cop

Note [21 June 2005]: Seems that it's now Four-million dollar cop.

Our police force has come in for a pounding. The Royal Commission that looked at their efficiency came up with a report that has given shape to our image of the corrupt officer. Despite the balance of good cop bad cop in the report, what lingers in the public imagination is the high-ranking officer with a fortune of RM34 million.

Imagine what a police officer has to do to earn thirty-four million ringgit. The number of times he (or she) has to compromise the law, the number of times they have to compromise our safety and security. The pimps, the mobsters, the underhand developers they associate with, that they are indebted to, who have power over them. And the number of their junior officers that they must drag down into this dirt with them.

It’s a scary image. If true, it’s obviously been going on a long time, largely undetected, completely unpunished. It now casts a long shadow over the entire police force. The honest officer, who has turned down offer after offer, is tainted as much as her dishonest colleague.

If the report is true, the officer was not even trying to hide. This was in the asset declaration, an astounding piece of arrogance. Had this piece of information come to light earlier, if the public had access to this little nugget, the course of events may have proceeded very differently.

First, if the report is false, we would know by now. The report would never have even included it. The Commission would have checked the information against the public record, and dismissed the complaint. The officer’s reputation would be intact.

If, however, the report is true, the darkness of secrecy has helped nourish this corruption. If asset declarations were made public, this officer could not have remained undetected for such a long time. As soon as the asset declaration was made, some enterprising journalist, junior officer, or victim of the corruption would have made it public. An open investigation would have occurred then. Justice would have been done, and seen to be done.

Instead, nothing has been done. The officer has, presumably, continued in his corruption. Continued his association with the underworld. Continued dragging down the officers around him, either by subverting honest investigations or subverting honest cops. And continued dragging down the force.

The lack of access to information protects the guilty, often at the expense of the innocent. Because those who are bearing the brunt of this report are the honest officers. They need the trust and cooperation of the general public to get their job done. And their job is protecting us.

Those suffering most are the poorly paid cops who haven’t made money from the gangsters. Their reputation is tarnished, the organisation they work for is tarnished. And without corruption money cushioning their homes and family lives, often this is all the honest officer has.