KUALA LUMPUR: With a career spanning more than two decades in the force, Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain has seen more than his fair share of heinous crimes.
However, as the world evolves with liberal socialisation and advanced technologies, the negative effects of modern development have made the Federal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director very worried.
Thanks to the limitless potential of social media and networking, the spread of pornographic content has become unchecked and rampant on the Internet.
Furthermore, easy access to such explicit content is threatening the younger generation with moral decay.
For Shuhaily, a father of three daughters, the problem is hitting too close to home.
"As a cop, all I want is to bring back the peaceful times, like what we had growing up," he told the New Straits Times recently.
Shuhaily believes that the surge in statutory rape cases may be driven by perpetrators who have watched explicit content on social media, highlighting the need to address this growing concern.
"Cases of statutory rape are on the rise and that worries me. The statistics (that police have) are based on reported cases.
"The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is looking at data that hasn't been reported, so it is obviously higher than what we have.
"But what does this tell you? It shows the correlation between accessing pornography and rape," he said.
In May, Shuhaily announced that statutory rape involving teenagers aged 16 and below had increased 11.8 per cent to 202 cases last year compared with the year before.
He commended the hard work of Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said in pushing for the registration of social media platforms and proposing the Online Safety Bill.
The CID, he said, is also working closely with the Crime Prevention and Community Safety Department and MCMC to raise awareness and address issues related to the distribution of explicit content on social media.
He said the responsibility also lies with parents, who must ensure their children's safety.
As a father, he acknowledged the challenges in monitoring his children's activities.
"Having three girls at home, I once tried taking away their phones for a week and they said, 'Okay dad, take it. It only means we don't have to do homework for a week.'
"So it is a double-edged sword and we can't do away with it or we'll be left behind. So the question is, where is the limit?"
While acknowledging the complexities of an ever-changing world, Shuhaily shared his hope of restoring the ease and peace of mind that once defined parenting experience.
"As a cop, I always want to bring back the peaceful times we experienced growing up. In those days, our parents didn't even have to worry about us taking public buses, for example.
"We were more independent because the environment was safe then. I'm not saying that the environment now is unsafe, but the risk is always there."