BODY-worn cameras (BWCs) and police vehicle cams must be made mandatory for police teams that are tasked with arresting suspects to verify the oral narrative of police officers in the event their so-called operation ended up with a shoot-out that kill the alleged suspects.
The Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (MADPET) which makes such call following the recent gunning down of three car theft suspects by the police in Rawang said Malaysia should expedite such measure which is already “a norm in most jurisdictions for a long time”.
“When a person is killed when he/she is to be arrested, or whilst in custody, he/she is victim of gross injustice as this presumed innocent person have been deprived the right to a fair trial which may have even found him/her innocent,” justified the NGO’s co-founder Charles Hector in a media statement.
“More so, when they’re shot dead in the process of arrest, the question arises whether any of those killed was totally innocent as they could only be sharing a car with some criminal suspects.
“When all suspects are shot dead, there is no way for any of the alleged suspects to contradict the police version of what exactly transpired, hence BWCs and/or vehicle cams can provide very important evidence to determine the truth.”
On this note, Hector recounted how the coroner’s court had on May 31, 2022 concluded that there was abuse of power and elements of a criminal nature in the death of three men who were shot at close range by police three years earlier.
On the balance of probabilities, S. Mahendran, G. Thavaselvan and his brother-in-law J Vijayaratnam, a Sri Lankan national, died of gunshot wounds on their heads and chests, according to coroner Rasyihah Ghazali.
“The shots were not fired in self-defence. There was abuse of power and (actions in the nature of) criminal elements by police in the death of the men,” Free Malaysia Today (FMT) reported her as saying at the end of an inquest.
However, the police claimed there was an exchange of fire between their personnel and the trio at the edge of a jungle in Rawang and that two of the men had been armed with pistols.
Aside from calling for all cops and patrol cars to be equipped with BWCs and vehicle cams respectively, MADPET also called for an end to the “defamation of the dead” by urging a thorough investigation into the criminal liability aspect of police officers involved in the shooting.
“MADPET calls for the full and transparent disclosure of all coroner’s findings of every ‘police shot dead’ cases,” demanded the human rights NGO.
“MADPET also calls for the respect of principle that one is presumed innocent until convicted in court after a fair trial. Note that the sentence for these alleged car thieves is not death but imprisonment.” – Jan 21, 2025
