LETTER | The police as in all other enforcement agencies are entrusted with wide powers to investigate crime, as stipulated in the criminal procedure code and the relevant Acts.

However, it has always been the norm that these powers are exercised only when there is reason to believe that a crime has taken place or about to be committed.

Police reports are not always reason enough to exercise all the special powers of criminal investigations until initial inquiries establish that a possible offence has been disclosed.

At times investigative instincts require more than stopping and enquiring being an integral part in detecting criminal activities. This discretion comes with training, experience and knowledge.

The police explanation of their powers to check handphones leaves much to be desired and could have been better in putting forward the police angle when it comes to suspicions, hunches, seizable offences, relevant traffic offences etc during such checks.

Need to act fast if life at stake

In short, there are times when the suspect’s phone has to be checked immediately when time is of the essence, specifically when lives are at stake.

The police must be entrusted with this discretion to facilitate the gathering of all the admissible evidence available.

Taking away this part of police discretion may lead to the elimination or deterioration of evidence, which will affect the degree of justice meted. There will be times when delays can lead to great risks to the lives of victims.

The act of stopping, enquiring, searching, seizing, detaining and thereafter arresting a suspect must be allowed to take its initial course based on the situation, especially when there are high probabilities that it is linked to serious crime offences.

The onus at this stage is on the relevant enforcement agency and the process must be made more transparent. The manner and mode of this transparency in initial police actions have a lot of room for improvement.

Enforcement agencies must ensure that public trust and confidence do not wane as a result of a few bad apples who indiscreetly and without just suspicion conduct such searches wantonly.

Trust and confidence are paramount in these situations and work both ways for the public and the agency concerned in ensuring that justice, in the end, will not only be seen to have been done but done fairly and effectively.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.