New police chief discloses his plans<\/p>\n
By Yogita Tahil Ramani<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Newly-installed National Police chief Lt. Gen.
\nRusdihardjo vows to tell the truth behind all cases and plans to
\nfurther improve the skills of police officers nationwide.<\/p>\n
In an interview with The Jakarta Post at his residence in
\nSouth Jakarta, the 54-year-old lieutenant general, who was
\ninstalled a day earlier by President Abdurrahman Wahid, replacing
\nGen. Roesmanhadi, will also order police chiefs to regularly take
\nto the streets instead of, for example, holding meetings or golf
\noutings.<\/p>\n
The former chief of National Police detectives also spoke
\nbluntly about the unsolved murders of female labor activist
\nMarsinah and journalist Udin, and the classic tragic condition of
\nthe police budget and operation.<\/p>\n
On his promise to stick to the truth, Rusdihardjo said that
\nmost police chiefs decided to hide the facts in fear of never
\nbeing promoted.<\/p>\n
\"It's political pressure. If I say something about this, for
\ninstance, I could never be a provincial police chief or a
\nnational police chief. I have been recommended, but will never
\nmake it to Sespim (the National Police Staff and Leadership
\nSchool in Bandung, West Java),\" the former Sespim chief said.<\/p>\n
\"In the past, to become a provincial police chief, the
\ncandidate had to be rechecked with the provincial military police
\nchief. If the latter liked you, then you had no choice but to
\nwait.\"<\/p>\n
Unlike other police chiefs before him, Rusdihardjo has shed
\nsome light on the mysteries that still surround the 1993 brutal
\nmurder of Marsinah in Surabaya, East Java, and the 1996 killing
\nof journalist Fuad Muhammad Syafrudin, better known as Udin, at
\nhis residence near Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
\"Marsinah shouldn't have died. Some truck drivers saw her one
\nnight in the woods. She was smashed up. Her hair was disheveled,
\nher face and her body had really bad cuts and she was bleeding
\nprofusely, from ... sorry to say this, her vagina,\" Rusdihardjo
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"The truck drivers ran away, frightened by a 'ghost'. One of
\nthem contacted the Madiun Police. Officers came, took one look at
\nher and thought that she was sinting (mentally ill). They should
\nhave helped her. She was still alive.<\/p>\n
\"They threw her into the back of a Kijang van, drove her
\nthrough remote areas to the Jombang Police Headquarters. She died
\nthere, most likely of an excessive loss of blood.\"<\/p>\n
Kodim<\/p>\n
Rusdihardjo said he was one of the senior police officers
\nassigned to probe the case at that time. He had gone to check the
\nPorong Military District Command (Kodim) himself, where the rape
\nand murder allegedly took place.<\/p>\n
\"There was a lot of blood everywhere. We were shocked. There
\nwas also blood on the seats of a Daihatsu Zebra, or maybe it was
\na (Suzuki) Carry van (at the Kodim). I don't quite remember,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"Since we had no equipment to determine whether the blood was
\nthat of an animal or a human being, we just took her bones. There
\nwas very few of them as we exhumed her skeleton from the grave.\"<\/p>\n
\"You know about the DNA story, and the rest. The case was not
\nhandled properly. We don't know who the killers are,\" he said,
\nreferring to the contamination of DNA samples due to prolonged
\nand complicated test procedures.<\/p>\n
Rusdihardjo said in Udin's case, National Police detectives
\nonly took a good look at the crime scene 14 days after the crime
\nwas committed.<\/p>\n
\"We were under enormous pressure. That's all I can say,\" he
\nsaid, refusing to give further details.<\/p>\n
Rusdihardjo added that changes in the police force would come
\nabout with professionalism.<\/p>\n
\"I'm not going to dream about raising the number of police
\nofficers nationwide with the paltry budget.<\/p>\n
\"The number of police officers today (some 187,000 personnel)
\nshould be more or less the same until the year 2025,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"There are too many posts at National Police Headquarters that
\ndo not need police officers, but civilians.<\/p>\n
\"All top police officers wear the chocolate-colored cord on
\ntheir shoulder, but do they ever use their whistles (to serve the
\npeople)?<\/p>\n
\"I'm going to try cutting out the morning meetings in all
\npolice precincts. From the precinct chief to his subordinates,
\nthey will all go to (their respective) fields. This will happen.<\/p>\n
\"No golfing either. This literally means no golfing during
\nwork hours and no attending unnecessary meetings.\"<\/p>\n
On the police budget, Rusdihardjo said he was going to try and
\nconcentrate a substantial amount on operational vehicles and
\nequipment.<\/p>\n
\"We spend billions on buildings,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"How many vans does a police subprecinct have here? About two
\neach. How can our officers go to three crime scenes at one time
\nwithout vans and motorcycles?\"<\/p>\n
On police corruption, Rusdihardjo said that most police
\nofficers feel that \"anything that can be made into money, should
\nbe made into money\".<\/p>\n
\"Life is very, very hard. To get children schooled, to eat in
\nfact, we need money. A colonel today (only) receives a monthly
\nsalary of less than Rp 1.5 million.<\/p>\n
\"A detective, for example, needs informants for information.
\nNo information comes free.\"<\/p>\n
Rusdihardjo also added that police personnel nationwide would
\nreceive additional training on conducting raids.<\/p>\n
\"You do not go into a nightclub and get some MC to announce:
\n'ladies and gentlemen we, from the police precinct, are going to
\nconduct a raid.' Police themselves end up pocketing the evidence,
\nand most of the time use it.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/new-police-chief-discloses-his-plans-1447893297",
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