Cases of recalcitrant police officers increase

Cases of recalcitrant police officers increase

Tony Hotland , The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

City police efforts throughout the year to restore their
tarnished image were largely ineffective given the increase in
cases committed by defiant personnel from 206 cases last year to
234 this year.

In a speech delivered during the commemoration of the Jakarta
Police's 54th Anniversary on Saturday, deputy chief Brig. Gen.
Nanan Soekarna said the police had taken firm action against the
379 personnel involved.

"We have given penalties to those engaged in the cases. We
have even dismissed 80 officers," he said.

The cases are related to, among other things, insubordination,
desertion, ethics code violations such as weapon misuse, and
criminal conduct such as embezzlement, fraud and bribery.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara could not
attend the ceremony because he was with National Police chief
Gen. Da'i Bachtiar who was on a visit to China.

Nanan argued that the wide scope of police operations and weak
monitoring increase the chances of such offenses taking place.

He, therefore, asked the public to take an active role in the
monitoring the police and informing police authorities about the
performance of their personnel.

"It's very difficult to monitor each officer on the field. So
we want the public to help us by reporting cases of unlawful
conduct among our personnel," he said.

"And, don't bribe the officers in order to pass the
recruitment test to join the force or when you get ticketed, for
example."

Nanan added the police would welcome criticism in a bid to
change their superior or "arrogant" image into a "civil" image,
and to create a "clean, skilled, honorable, and lawful" force.

The police force was separated from the Indonesian Military in
2000, but a repressive style of conduct still lingers within the
civilian force.

Last May, a team of police were involved in a shooting in
which stray bullets killed two young girls, and injured the
mother of one of them in the Taman Sari area of West Jakarta.

The officers said the officers involved would soon face trial
as ordinary civilians.

Observer Rashid H. Lubis commented that the police had not
overcome their internal problems, which was holding them back in
implementing reform.

"Professionalism is still out of question unless the police
first manage to solve their internal problems," the executive
director of police watchdog Polwatch told The Jakarta Post.

He pointed to what takes place inside interrogation rooms as
the status quo in the "culture of violence", citing Polwatch's
recent interviews of criminals jailed at Cipinang Penitentiary,
East Jakarta.

"Eighty percent of the inmates we interviewed revealed that
torture, beating and electrocution were common during
interrogation," he said.

In the ceremony, Nanan put emphasis on the police program to
protect the city during Christmas and New Year celebrations.

"We still put bomb threats at the top of the list...we will
take all necessary measures to prevent them," said Nanan.