Citizens expect benefit from the presence of 'koban'

Citizens expect benefit from the presence of 'koban'

Wahyuana, The Jakarta Post/Bekasi

Many people panic somewhat whenever a police officer knocks on
their door. They will immediately try to recall what it was that
they could have done wrong.

But starting this year, whenever an officer knocks on your
door, it may well be a effort by local police to improve their
relations with the local community and an effort to improve
services to the public.

"A police officer, First Brig. Jerry, visited us once. He is
assigned to the koban near here," said Hamdani, a 35-year-old
owner of a shop/house in Permata Plasa complex, West Bekasi,
recently.

"He introduced himself and we talked about the community
police programs for about two hours. I think the programs are
good because they help bring police closer to the people.
However, I haven't seen the programs materialize. Perhaps it's
because our environment is already safe enough," he added.

Hamdani is not the only citizen enjoying the presence of
police officers in a koban, in this case located in front of the
Giant hypermarket near the West Bekasi toll gate. Another koban
is located in the Pondok Ungu housing complex, North Bekasi.

For Salimun, chief security guard at Mega Mall Bekasi, the
presence of koban in the area, which is full of shopping centers,
has helped the work of the guards at the malls there.

"There were two thefts in our mall over the last three months.
We managed to arrest the thieves and then handed them over to
policemen in the koban. Since they do not have the authority to
investigate, they handed the suspects over to South Bekasi
Police," he said.

Bekasi started its pilot project three months ago with
the assistance from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency
(JICA). Koban are one-room police stations that were introduced
in Japan in 1881 to protect officers from the elements. They are
open at all hours, with between nine and 15 officers working in
three shifts.

The project is a part of the 'Support for the Reform of the
Indonesian National Police' program being undertaken by the
Indonesian and Japanese governments. The success of the project
has prompted Bekasi Police to plan adding 12 more koban next
year.

In commemorating the 55th anniversary of the Jakarta Police --
which incorporated the areas of Jakarta, Bekasi, Tangerang and
Depok -- on Monday, the city police are focusing on improving
services in the 284 police posts in the area.

However, not all citizens have obtained benefit from the
presence of koban.

Activist Benny Tunggul Hasiholan of the Environment Community
Union (ECU), who lives in the Villa Taman Kartini housing
complex, said that not all citizens are familiar with the concept
of koban.

"There has been lack of integration between the police and
society generally. It seems there an overlap of authority between
officers at the koban and the South Bekasi Police," he said. "We
get confused about where we are supposed to go if we have any
problems."

Benny pointed out that police officers in the koban have yet
to be able to manage traffic in congested areas. He hoped that
officers in the koban also focused attention to curbing drug
abuse in Bekasi, particularly among teenagers.