Show Of Empathy Puts Police In Good Light For A Change At Least Not All Cops Are Incompetent

---

 
“I DON’T mind stealin’ bread from the mouths of decadents. But I can’t feed on the powerless when my cup’s already overfilled,” sang the late Chris Cornell on American rock band Temple of the Dog’s song Hunger Strike.
Deep words indeed but words that were taken to heart by a police officer, if this viral post is true.
In an anonymous post shared in Geng Keselamatan Negara (@GengKNegara) on X, a police officer recounted a case of minor theft at a Tesco’s (now Lotus’s) branch.
A hapless Malay man had been apprehended for attempting to steal two loaves of Gardenia bread.
Expressing surprise to the security guard that the police were being summoned for theft of items not amounting to RM10, the security guy contended that he was merely following instructions as the management had insisted on filing a report.

While being driven to the police station, it was learned that the thief was forced to steal to feed his child who had been subsisting on cheap Mamee noodle snacks.

The narrator related that he was moved to tears by the man’s plight but the security personnel was ready to make the report upon arriving at the station.

It was at that precise moment that the deputy head of the station (AOCS) arrived and upon hearing details of the case, let loose a volley of abuse on the poor security guard.
The latter pleaded that he had no choice in the matter whereupon the AOCS requested to meet with the person-in-charge of security at the said Tesco’s branch.

It was now the turn of a Malay lady supervisor to get an earful from the AOCS who even then insisted that the thief had to pay a penalty amounting to 10 times the amount of the stolen items “to settle the case”.

Upon hearing this, the AOCS promptly paid the amount demanded. The thief was brought to tears by the deeds of the AOCS who replied that this was not a test of the thief but of him to see what he could do in his role as ACOS.

Apparently, the man who stole the bread had become recently unemployed and is a single parent to a five-year old after his wife left him. The AOCS further handed some monies to help tide over the obviously desperate individual.

The man returned a few months later to re-pay the AOCS who had by then been transferred to Nibong Tebal.
This was when the narrator vividly recalled the words of his AOCS who counselled that “when you see others in difficulty, the Almighty was not testing that person but is testing us to see what we could do to help that person”.

He went on to applaud his AOCS whom he identified as Sergeant Major Shahruddin.

This post has been doing the rounds and gaining a lot of positive traction. This is the side of the police force that the public want to see, not images of officers making lewd gestures or deleting evidence in murder trials.
As empathy is in short supply these days, tales such as this show that there still exists people with good hearts even among the nation’s beleaguered Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM). – Focus Malaysia

---