KUALA LUMPUR: The dress code for the public at police stations is based on a directive from the Chief Secretary of the Government, says Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani (pic).
"We have to uphold it as a police station is a government building and installation. However, it (the dress code) can be relaxed based on the type of emergency faced by the complainant," said the Inspector-General of Police.
He was commenting on an incident where a woman was allegedly prohibited from entering the Kajang police headquarters for wearing inappropriate attire.
"I was informed that the complainant was wearing shorts and she was advised by police personnel to wear appropriate attire. Maybe there was a misunderstanding during the incident. We must always wear appropriate attire when going to government buildings," he said.
Acryl Sani said this when speaking to reporters after attending the "Hiking with the Police" programme at the Bukit Kiara Federal Park on Saturday (Feb 4).
This comes after Kajang OCPD Asst Comm Mohd Zaid Hassan said that an initial investigation of the incident found that
Kajang OCPD Asst Comm Mohd Zaid Hassan said checks revealed the woman was wearing a pair of shorts which did not cover her knees and only changed into longer ones once she was told she would not be allowed to enter the police station.
"The incident occurred at around 10.30am on Monday (Jan 30) when the woman came to the Kajang police headquarters to lodge a report on an accident.
"The sentry told the woman that she could not park her SUV in the police compound as there was no place.
"The sentry also noticed that the woman was wearing shorts that only reached her thighs and told her that she needed to change into something more appropriate in order to enter the police headquarters, which is in line with the dressing etiquette set for government premises," he said in a statement on Tuesday (Jan 31).
He claimed the woman was unhappy and refused to follow the police personnel's orders at first and even provoked them.
"They then advised her politely again and she drove out of the compound and came back about 15 to 20 minutes later with two friends and was wearing a pair of longer pants.
"A picture of the woman's longer pants was published along with an article in a news portal which made it seem like she was barred entry even though she complied with the dress code.
"She only wore the pants pictured in the article after she was told to change," he said, adding that the police headquarters deals with over 300 people daily and had never faced such an issue before.
He said that pictures on dressing etiquette are also posted at the sentry post for visitors' reference.
