Fewer cases solved as police focus on terrorism<\/p>\n
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A year-end report by the Jakarta Police implies that city police
\ndid not perform well this year because they failed to improve
\nservices to the public.<\/p>\n
The report, made available to The Jakarta Post, shows that the
\npolice only managed to solve 33 percent of the total 34,463 cases
\nrecorded this year, or 11,492 cases. Last year, they solved a
\nhigher 40 percent, or 13,736 cases, out of the 34,270 offenses
\nrecorded.<\/p>\n
\"Indeed, the level of 'crime clearance' is one of the main
\nyardsticks to measure police performance,\" said city police
\nspokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo on Friday.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the report, Prasetyo said the police would carry
\nout an in-depth evaluation of the report to find out the causes
\nof their declining performance.<\/p>\n
\"One of the main causes, I assume, is the fact that many of
\nour detectives have been assigned to help investigate bombing
\ncases, including the recent bomb attack at the JW Marriott
\nHotel,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He was referring to the Aug. 5 bombing in South Jakarta, which
\nkilled 12 people and injured 147 others. The attack was the sixth
\nbombing in the city this year.<\/p>\n
Prasetyo did not detail about how many detectives had been
\nassigned to help the investigation.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Erlangga Masdiana, a criminologist at the
\nUniversity of Indonesia, lambasted the police's tendency to
\nprioritize the solving of big cases so that they neglected lesser
\ncrimes.<\/p>\n
He said the public would judge whether the police performed
\nwell or poorly based on day-to-day interaction between police
\nofficers and the public rather than police achievements in
\nsolving big cases, which sometimes do not directly impact the
\ninterests of the public.<\/p>\n
\"Any measures to polish their tarnished image won't be
\nfruitful unless they put services to the public in first place,\"
\nhe asserted.<\/p>\n
A senior police officer who requested anonymity acknowledged
\nthat many police officers failed to provide good services.<\/p>\n
\"You can witness the excessive paperwork that people must go
\nthrough to get vehicle registration documents. It has become a
\ncommon sight, not to mention the illegal fees that must be paid
\nto bribe unscrupulous officers,\" he said.<\/p>\n
According to the year-end report, a crime was recorded every
\n15 minutes and 26 seconds in the city this year, slightly higher
\nthat last year's \"crime clock\" of 15 minutes and 33 seconds.<\/p>\n
Auto theft remained the highest recorded crime this year with
\n5,524 cases. The number is lower than last year's 6,180.<\/p>\n
The number of burglary cases soared by 20 percent to 5,524
\nfrom 4,567 in 2002, while robbery decreased to 1,822 from 2,546
\ncases.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/fewer-cases-solved-as-police-focus-on-terrorism-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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