C. Java police behind in crime fighting

By K. Basrie

Are the police losing the battle against crime in Central Java? Maybe not, but local police chiefs admit that they are falling behind through a combination of shortages of personnel, lack of professionalism and drive among their officers at a time when the crime rate, from the most petty like traffic violations to the more sophisticated modus operandi, is on the rise in one of Indonesia's most densely populated provinces. A reporter from The Jakarta Post was recently invited by the National Police to tour the province and talk to some of the local police chiefs. This is his report.

SEMARANG, Central Java (JP): For the first 10 months of this year, the Central Java Police have managed to solve 57 percent of the more than 10,000 crimes reported.

This is hardly a performance they can be proud of. In fact, compared to last year, police are falling behind in their work. In 1993, they had a better record, solving 70 percent of the 16,207 cases that reached their desks.

Central Java Police Chief Maj. Gen. Harimas AS Hasbullah will be the first to admit that this isn't good enough.

"We're not satisfied with the record, especially given that most of them are what we call conventional or traditional crimes," said Harimas, whose jurisdiction covers Central Java and the special administrative territory of Yogyakarta.

However, Harimas was just as quick to warn against generalizing the trend, pointing out that in some areas police have managed to improve their performance and services.

Interviews with other senior police officers in Central Java further revealed some of the problems they face at the local level. Most pointed to a problem of attitude among their officers, that is, lack of personal drive to become truly professional in their job.

There are other classic, yet valid, reasons cited such as budgetary constraints, shortages in personnel and equipment.

Then there is the problem of increasing sophistication in crimes, particularly the new method of hit-and-run, in which a gang of robbers move from one area to another, from one province to another, making detection difficult.

Outside of traffic violations, robbery with violence tops the list of crimes in Central Java, followed by vehicle theft, arson, injury, murder, drug-related offenses and counterfeiting of local and foreign currencies.

The more traditional crimes are relatively small in number but they still have to be dealt with. They include thefts of precious teak wood from the forests and cattle rustling.

According to police records the cities most prone to crime are Semarang, Yogyakarta, Surakarta and Kudus, in that order.

Lt. Col. Adang Rismanto, head of the Semarang Police Chief, admits that of all the problems facing the police, the biggest one is the attitude of officers.

"It is my personnel's lack of desire to become professional officers that has caused many criminal cases to remain unresolved," Adang said, who was launched into fame when as head of the South Jakarta police precinct he solved the murder of noted painter Basuki Abdullah in 1993.

Lt. Col. Andi Masmijat, head of the precinct in Kudus, a small town in Pati famous as a home base for many Kretek cigarette producers, said the timeworn problem of lack of personnel could be compensated if the existing officers would only take the trouble to upgrade their capability.

Trouble is, Andi said, "Many of my officers have no intention of going further to develop their own capabilities."

To compensate for this, Andi said, he has resorted to organizing civilian groups, under the supervision of his office, to beef up the police force in maintaining security and order.

Local police also know better than to complain about limited equipment because they realize this is a problem nationwide and is not exclusively their domain.

Central Java Police have also been confronted with new, more sophisticated crimes, which will probably require coordination with other provinces to tackle.

Take the case of "hit-and-run" gangs of robbers that have been operating in the province.

They are usually armed with sharp weapons and travel in a Kijang van, according to Col. Totok Soediarto, head of the Central Java Crime Investigation Directorate.

"The robbers kick off their operations in Medan, move down to Lampung in Sumatra and across to Jakarta before heading to towns and villages in the other part of Java," Totok said. Usually, to elude police detection, it is one operation in one city.

Money counterfeiting is also a problem, with some cities in Central Java running a profitable industry being part of a larger nationwide syndicate.

Kudus, for example, is noted for its experts in "painting" blank security paper into fake banknotes.

"They get an order from Surabaya and Jakarta to make forged rupiahs and American dollars," Lt. Col Andi said, whose office recently busted part of the syndicate which was counterfeiting Rp 20,000 bank notes.

In March 1993, Semarang police also uncovered a syndicate counterfeiting Rp 20,000 and US$100 banknotes. Police seized counterfeits worth Rp 4.2 billion ($2 million).

Local police chiefs also said that most crimes in their precincts were committed by people coming from outside of their area.

"The local people would have to think many times before committing crimes in their own area because, if they're caught, they will be branded as criminals for life and this will put shame on their families," Col. Tata Sutama said, head of the Pati regional police.

As well as fighting crime, police also have to cope with the increasingly difficult traffic problem, not an easy feat given that the narrow Central Java highways are used by cars traveling between Jakarta and West Java on the one hand and East Java and Bali on the other. (see accompanying box story)

While their bosses complained about the lack of personal drive of officers, the lower ranked police officers privately complained about the increasingly large work load and that there was hardly time for them to contemplate their future.

"We've tried our best to improve our services but still we're getting more complaints than appreciation," an officer in Demak said.

"It's nonsense to talk about enhancing our capability when every day we're overwhelmed with work," a sergeant in a small precinct in Pati said.