Major shake-up coming for Selangor police stations

PETALING JAYA: The Ampang Jaya district police headquarters was in the limelight recently as one where rogue cops have been in action, but the South Klang and North Klang stations also have similar problems.

Several major changes are now in the works for these places and several other district police headquarters in the state.

Selangor police chief Comm Datuk Hussein Omar Khan Hussein (pic) said they are not taking lightly the cases of crimes committed by rogue cops in recent months.

He said they would initiate major reforms, including a full revamp of personnel at stations deemed problematic, such as Ampang Jaya, South Klang and North Klang.

“We will conduct a major revamp or reshuffle of personnel at these stations.

“There are only a small number of personnel who are tarnishing the image of the force but we will not compromise.

“Stern action will be taken against personnel who break the law. We know who they are and we are monitoring them,” Hussein Omar warned.

At the same time, he said police would also beef up crime prevention at areas that come under the jurisdiction of problematic police stations.

On the two policemen who were arrested for the alleged rape and robbery of a 17-year-old foreign student and her male friend at Bukit Ampang View on Wednesday, Hussein said the two are expected to be charged this week.

He said investigations are ongoing and the suspects were being held under a seven-day remand.

“They have been suspended from duty. We expect to charge them in court before the remand order ends,” he said.

The two policemen, aged 24 and 30, were arrested within hours after the foreign student and her male friend, a Malaysian student also aged 17, lodged police reports over the alleged robbery and sexual assault.

The victims were in a car when they were approached by two uniformed police patrolmen who accused them of a minor traffic offence before extorting cash from the duo.

As the victims did not have enough money, the younger policeman – who has been in the force for less than a year – is said to have accompanied the male student to a bank to withdraw cash from an automated teller machine.

When they returned, the girl claimed that the older policeman raped her in the patrol car.

Meanwhile, 55-year-old private school teacher James Anthony, who was allegedly assaulted and robbed by four Ampang Jaya policemen at gunpoint in 2019, expressed anger and sadness over the recent case.

He said his encounter with the rogue cops affected him so badly that he is still seeking psychiatric counselling at Hospital Ampang.

“I suffer from depression and am terrified at the sight of uniformed policemen… I am pleading to the higher-ups to put an end to this by revamping the Ampang Jaya district police headquarters,” James said.

Four Ampang Jaya policemen were charged with robbery and assault weeks after the teacher lodged a police report.

However, James said that almost five years later, the case was still pending.

“They keep postponing it. At one point, the suspects were given a DNAA (discharge not amounting to an acquittal) but were later put on trial again after an appeal to the Attorney General’s Chambers.

“I will wait for the day that justice is served,” said the man known popularly as Cikgu James.