ASEAN police meeting to discuss cooperation

JAKARTA (JP): The sixth Joint ASEAN Senior Police Officers Course, will be opened here today by National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dibyo Widodo.

Deputy secretary of the Indonesian central bureau of Interpol, Col. Wayan, told The Jakarta Post the three-week annual course at the Graha Purna Wira building, on Jl. Wijaya II in South Jakarta, will feature various topics on Indonesia and ASEAN regions.

Among Indonesian topics is the country's criminal justice system, social and cultural affairs and police management, Wayan said.

The subjects will be delivered by high-ranking officers from related bodies.

Wayan said an executive from the ASEAN secretary's office will deliver his paper on future prospects for the region.

ASEAN includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. "Each of the ASEAN countries will be represented by three senior police officers," Wayan said.

The course is part of activities held annually by ASEANPOL, a body grouping police from all ASEAN countries.

The meeting, from Nov. 18-Dec. 6, hopes to extend mutual understanding, and strengthen ties among ASEANPOL members who in turn can help each-other fight crimes in the region, said Wayan. Last year's course was held in Thailand.

Another activity of ASEANPOL is the establishment of the ASEANPOL computerized data base network, linking all police headquarters in the region on one line.

"We hope the network can be run at full capacity by the end of this year," he said.

The ASEANPOL data base network will help police in the region cooperate with each other, in efforts to identify and locate criminal suspects and fugitives, Wayan said. (bsr)