One would think that being a police officer who drives a police car will merit some form of differential treatment when it comes to the question of obeying traffic laws, right? Well you’d be wrong!
A police vehicle in Putrajaya, Malaysia had it’s front right tire clamped for parking illegally by the side of the road. Ironically, the patrol vehicle belonged to a personnel from the Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Department. The Star reports that a photo was taken and uploaded onto social media on 27 December 2017 and has since been the topic of conversation.
The photo showed three uniformed police officers surrounding the vehicle which had a bright yellow tire clamp locked onto it’s front wheel
Rosly Hassan who is Putrajaya’s police chief Assistant Commissioner, has responded to the viral photo. He had confirmed the incident to be true and said that the illegally-parked vehicle was clamped by the personnel from the Putrajaya Corporation Enforcement Division.
The division director Muhamad Irwan Abdullahunder said that the action taken against the police vehicle was in adherence to Section 48 of the Road Transport Act 1987 for the obstruction of traffic.
He stated that, “The wheel-clamping is one of the efforts to educate the people and prevent them from continuing to commit traffic offences that will hamper urban well being and pose a hindrance to the public”
This photo has raised mixed feelings among netizens as there are some who applaud the act and others who do not agree that clamping the police vehicle was wise.
One netizen wrote “No one is above the law, even if they’re the traffic police! The personnel who clamped the car should be given a medal!”
There are also individuals who were in opposition to the act saying “They should be given the leeway to park illegally as long as it doesn’t obstruct traffic because they need to get going upon receiving a distress call from the public.”
Comment below and let us know what you think!
