Over the week, Malaysians have been raising the question of who gets to request to be escorted by police outriders, following the incident where Baling MP Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim’s son allegedly had 2 police outriders escorting him along the streets of Penang on 6 May.
According to Bernama, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said that only individuals on a special list or those with permission from the inspector-general of police (IGP) are allowed to have police escorts.
“Actually, we do not allow anyone who is not on the list (police escort service list) to receive such facilities. So if there is a mistake made by our personnel, we will take action,” he said.
He explained that the matter has been agreed upon in Parliament and anyone, whether they’re officers or benefactors, would be investigated if found guilty.
Hamzah also said that there is no need to review the SOPs for the police escort service because the issue lies in people using these facilities without permission.
When asked to comment on the issue of an MP’s son allegedly using police escort services recently, he said the police had conducted a detailed internal investigation and that the results would be announced soon.
According to a report by NST, the 2 police officers in question have since been suspended and transferred to the administrative department pending the outcome of the investigation.
Penang police chief Datuk Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain said the investigations found that both officers acted on their own accord as the VIP’s son’s outriders.
He added that there were no instructions were given from any senior officers to both cops to escort a public vehicle.
The son of Baling MP, Mohamed Khairul Anwar, has also agreed to give the police full cooperation.
Shuhaily said the case is being investigated under Section 233 of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Act 1998 to see if there are any elements to tarnish the image of the police force.
