Conduct psychometric screening for police intake – Criminologist

SHAH ALAM - The government should consider conducting psychometric screening for individuals applying for positions in enforcement bodies such as the police in the future.

Management and Science University (MSU) criminologist Nadiah Syariani Md Shariff said the test would determine the type of personality and level of integrity of a person, whether the position applied for was suitable for the quality of the individual.

"One of the ways to overcome the issue of misbehaviour and crime among enforcement personnel is to identify these risk factors stemming from internal factors involving the organisation or external factors.

"So this psychometric screening is an initial step towards prevention. In addition, periodic inspections also need to be done throughout the service to observe if there are risk factors that arise," she said when contacted by Sinar on Wednesday.

She said this when asked to comment on the many cases of misconduct and crimes involving officers and policemen that have been reported lately.

Nadiah added if such cases were not dealt with properly, it would harm the image of the police and other enforcement agencies.

"The public will lose faith in the enforcement and legal bodies themselves and may encourage the public to act on their own or 'street justice' in situations involving crime or injustice in public places.

"This is very worrying because in this situation, actions are usually driven by emotions rather than rational thought and do not follow the law and the probability for injury, cruelty and violence to occur is very high.

"On a larger scale, the harmony of the country will be threatened and divisions among the community will occur, leading to various larger social issues," she explained.