Kuching police chief: Integrity, mental health awareness programme to curb disciplinary problems

KUCHING (Dec 14): Kuching district police, through its inaugural integrity and mental health awareness programme, aims to instill a sense of healthy working environment and enhance quality of community services.

Its chief ACP Ahsmon Bajah, in his address at the closing of the programme at the Bintawa police station here yesterday, said these two key elements – integrity and mental health – stand out as crucial pillars in achieving officers’ optimal performance and quality of service.

“Maintaining mental stability is paramount, as failure to do so and mishandling interactions with the public can lead to communication breakdowns and flawed decision-making processes, resulting in inadequate services for the community,” he said.

Ahsmon said Sarawak Police Commissioner Dato Mancha Ata has shown strong support to the programme which is planned to be held every three months or as required.

This proactive approach, he added, showed the importance of police personnel’s mental health and to which he revealed that disciplinary actions had been taken against 25 individuals for various offences last year.

“This included four senior officers, 20 individuals from different ranks, and one public servant, constituting 2.3 per cent of the total manpower under the district police,” he said.

“Out of the 25 individuals; four were implicated in corruption, four in various crimes including narcotics, and six in different offences (Syariah criminal offences, etc),” he added.

“The district police have also taken action against 133 personnel for disciplinary breaches encompassing non-compliance with standard operating procedures, duty negligence, mismanagement, and improper dressing, among other offences.

“From 2020 to 2023, three personnel have already been dismissed from PDRM Kuching,” he disclosed, adding that it was done so to maintain the highest standards within the force.

“We have to take immediate action against these personnel to prevent negative impacts on our district police and to avoid disappointment among the public,” he said.