Community helps police improve image<\/p>\n
Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
That night, bus driver Sudarman could not believe that he was
\nsitting and chatting casually with local police officers.<\/p>\n
\"I understand now that the police are just ordinary people,
\nsome of them really bad, some good. We can't say that all of them
\nare bad,\" said the native of Pandean village.<\/p>\n
Such friendly contact is now possible under a project known as
\nCommunity-Oriented Policing (COP), which started in November and
\nis scheduled to end this October.<\/p>\n
The idea for the project -- with the aim of providing support
\nfor the reform process within the Indonesian Police (Polri), came
\nfrom the Center for Human Rights Studies at the Indonesian
\nIslamic University (Pusham UII) in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
Yogyakarta Police chief Brig. Gen Sudirman praised the
\nprogram, saying it contributed a great deal to cutting down crime
\nrates in areas where the project was implemented by up to 20
\npercent, as well as breaking the ice in the relationship between
\nmembers of the community and the police.<\/p>\n
COP is the continuation of a human rights training program for
\nmembers of the police, organized by Pusham UII some two years
\nago. The goal of the training was to provide participating police
\nwith basic knowledge on human rights, hoping they would no longer
\ndo their job in whatever way they liked.<\/p>\n
COP is currently implemented in three police subprecincts --
\nDepok Barati in Sleman regency, and Mergangsan and Umbulharjo,
\nYogyakarta municipality.<\/p>\n
Each of the selected area has serious and specific security
\nproblems. Depok Barat, for instance, used to be prone to vehicle
\ntheft. In Umbulharjo, residents used to take the law into their
\nown hands whenever they caught lawbreakers, while Mergangsan was
\ninfamous for daylight robbery.<\/p>\n
Under the sponsorship of the Asia Foundation, the project is
\ncarried out via the creation and development of a sound
\npartnership between the police and community, through problem-
\nsolving approaches that meet the community's needs and requests.<\/p>\n
According to COP program manager Eko Prasetyo, such a
\npartnership was aimed at strengthening civil society's capacity
\nto monitor and improve police performance and practice, based on
\nprinciples of transparency, accountability and respect for human
\nrights.<\/p>\n
The program aims to develop a two-way interaction between the
\npolice and the community in handling security-related problems --
\nmainly security protection for the community in general and
\nvulnerable groups like children, women, the disabled and crime
\nvictims.<\/p>\n
\"Hopefully, a sound partnership between the police and
\ncommunity will eventually be formed,\" Eko told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The program mostly creates more opportunities for the
\ncommunity and police to interact and discuss security-related
\nproblems and seek solutions. A monthly meeting is held in each of
\nthe pilot project areas. Additional meetings, at the request of
\neither party, are also welcomed.<\/p>\n
\"Each meeting always ends with an agreed solution to a
\nparticular security problem that people have identified as
\nrequiring urgent and serious action by the police,\" Eko said.<\/p>\n
A task force consisting of representatives of the community
\nwas also set up at each of the designated areas, with its main
\ntask being to mediate between the police and community, as well
\nas to make sure the police sincerely implemented agreed solutions
\nto problems.<\/p>\n
For instance, to reduce the level of daylight and motorcycle
\ntheft, the community required the police to extend and increase
\ntheir patrols to narrow village alleys. The police, on the other
\nhand, required the residents be more alert with regard to
\ncriminal activities in their neighborhoods by quickly informing
\nthem about suspicious activities.<\/p>\n
\"In a housing complex, for example, housewives are now taking
\npart in a daylight patrol to prevent daylight robbery in their
\ncomplex,\" Eko said.<\/p>\n
He insisted the program was not designed to make civilians
\ntake over the job of the police. On the contrary, the police, in
\nconsultation with the community they serve, design and implement
\nsolutions to crime-related issues in a transparent and
\naccountable manner.<\/p>\n
Eko said the program had proved to be a success, as well as
\nhelping to improve the image of the police. \"The program has
\nreceived a positive response from the public,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Head of Umbulharjo Police subprecinct Sr. Com. Adj. Musni
\nArifin said that since the project had started it had cut down
\nthe crime rate by up to 16 percent on average.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know whether it's simply been a coincidence, but it's
\na fact,\" he told Umbulharjo residents at a recent monthly meeting
\nheld jointly with local residents from Gambiran Baru hamlet,
\nPandean.<\/p>\n
Arifin said the program was quite relevant to the police
\nreform program, especially in changing the previously
\nmilitaristic and oppressive attitude of the police to one of
\nprotector and servant of the community.<\/p>\n
In future, the program could also be adopted by other police
\nsubprecincts across the country.<\/p>\n
\"The main challenge faced by the Indonesian National Police at
\npresent is to be able to respond adequately and swiftly to the
\nincreasing needs and expectations of citizens for a secure and
\nsafe environment. This project is one of the ways to make it come
\ntrue,\" said Herbin Marulak Siahaan of the Asia Foundation.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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