GEORGE TOWN: Police are investigating and looking into the claim made by a man who was turned away from a police station for wearing shorts to lodge a theft report.
State police chief Datuk Khaw Kok Chin said that they are investigating the matter and taking appropriate action.
"A person's dress code is not what determines whether he/she can lodge a report at any police station," he added.
Khaw said the priority of the police is to accept a report lodged by a complainant so that necessary action could be taken.
"We (Penang police) always practise the concept of serving the community. Those who come to the police station need help and assistance from the police.
"So, the priority is to accept a police report to take immediate action and help the victims who need help at that time immediately.
"It is not appropriate or inappropriate clothing that can determine whether one can make a police report," he told the New Straits Times.
Khaw said checks showed the instruction (to change into long trousers) came from a sentry (volunteer police) on duty.
The complainant in question, Winson Shim, had shared his experience through a post on the "We Love Bukit Tambun" Facebook page which then went viral. He wrote that he was asked by the sentry at the Simpang Ampat police station to go home and change into long trousers before he could lodge a report.
He said he was asked to change into long trousers before lodging a report after his car window was smashed and his personal belongings missing in an incident in Bukit Tambun on Thursday evening.
He said the sentry had informed him he should lodge a report at the Tambun police station.
When he told the sentry it was easier to lodge a report there, the sentry told him to go home and change into long trousers.
He claimed the sentry told him that after checking with the officers inside. Shim then returned to where his car was parked and searched the area hoping the thief would have thrown away the passport.
It was at this point that a police patrol car drove by and the officer asked him what was going on.
When Shim explained what happened, the policeman told him to lodge a report at the Tambun police station.
He said to his surprise, there was no issue there and he lodged the report in the same pair of shorts he was wearing.
Shim had lodged the report after his car window was smashed while having dinner on Thursday night.
Upon checking, he realised several items were missing, including RM800 cash and his wife's passport.