No need for syariah police unit: IGP

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 29, 2014): There is no need to set up the proposed syariah police unit in federal and state religious departments, said Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.
"There is no plan to have a specific police unit to enforce Islamic laws with the religious departments, but assist them in areas such as case investigations and relevant legislation," Khalid said at a press conference at Bukit Aman after attending a meeting with Armed Forces chief General Tan Sri Zulkefli Mohd Zin on the joint cooperation between both forces.
He said while the proposal was still in the planning stages, it was never meant for the religious departments to have a police unit of their own but rather save them the hassle of requesting police assistance each time it was required.
"Our personnel are merely being seconded to religious departments to help out with their investigations. It is not like the police will be out accompanying religious department officers to pick up people at parks and playgrounds (for Muslims committing close proximity or khalwat). This is a misunderstanding.
There is nothing unusual about this as we have done the same on an ad-hoc basis with other agencies such as the Inland Revenue Board, Department of Enviroment and others when they seek our assistance."
Khalid also said the seconding of his officers with the religious departments will not affect police manpower as the force has sufficient personnel.
Last month, Khalid was quoted saying that police will give their full cooperation in the proposal to set up the Islamic Development Department's (Jakim) own police unit to monitor and clamp down on deviant Islamic groups.
Khalid's comments came following an announcement by Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to second police personnel to Jakim primarily to enforce laws against Muslim extremists and terrorist groups.