Corruption rampant in police, says ADB<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
In a corner of a kiosk in suburban Jakarta, a young man brags
\nabout how he managed to escape being imprisoned after paying Rp 1
\nmillion (US$107) to a police officer who had arrested him for
\npossession of a small amount of marijuana.<\/p>\n
In contrast, Siti (not her real name) put on a sad face
\nbecause she could not come up with the Rp 10 million (US$1,075)
\ndemanded by police officers who caught her husband selling two
\necstasy pills at a discotheque in West Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The practice of bribing police officers is acceptable to some
\npeople to avoid facing tiresome legal procedures to obtain
\njustice.<\/p>\n
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) mentions such practices in
\nits report titled Country Governance Assessment Report-Indonesia,
\nsaying it was one hurdle for the National Police to overcome.<\/p>\n
The report says the public ranks the police as the poorest
\nperforming major public institution serving the community because
\nthe institution has not effectively dealt with the endemic
\ncorruption within its own departments.<\/p>\n
\"Corruption is in fact institutionalized. Examples of
\ncorruption and malpractice cited by the police -- dereliction of
\nduty, misuse of operational funds, extortion, bribery in criminal
\ncases, bribery and nepotism in appointments and promotions,
\nprotection of gambling and prostitution, and debt collection --
\nare all common among units and police officers across the
\ncountry,\" the report says.<\/p>\n
The ADB gave an example of how corruption in the force began
\nat the recruitment stage, citing how families may have to pay
\nbetween Rp 10 million to Rp 40 million to enroll their child in
\nthe police school.<\/p>\n
Adrianus Meliala, a police expert from the University of
\nIndonesia, said that a similar report about rampant corruption
\nwithin the police had been submitted by students at the Police
\nAcademy about one and a half years ago.<\/p>\n
\"I can say that the National Police are aware of the
\n(widespread corrupt) practice. The police have admitted their
\nmistakes, which is far better than other institutions that
\ncontinue to deny such allegations. The police started introducing
\nreform measures in 1999 by formulating a clear appraisal system
\nbased on capacity and performance,\" said Adrianus.<\/p>\n
The ADB also believes that insufficient skillful personnel had
\ncaused the police's performance in fighting corruption outside
\nthe institution to appear stagnant.<\/p>\n
The National Corruption Crime Directorate at police
\nheadquarters has only 40 operative officers, while provincial
\npolice have an average of 10 operative officers assigned to
\nhandle corruption cases. Worse still, from only a handful of
\ntrained accountants working for the National Police, none of them
\nwork in corruption units, the report said.<\/p>\n
In fact, the lack of personnel in the corruption crime unit
\nrepresents the imbalance between the number of police officers
\nand the number of population it serves. One Indonesian police
\nofficer serves 1,068 citizens, which is far from the ideal number
\nconstituted by the United Nations, which is 1:400.<\/p>\n
According to the bank, it is even below the ratio in India,
\nthe second most populated country in the world, which has a ratio
\nof 1:700. (006)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/corruption-rampant-in-police-says-adb-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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