City crime rate on the rise, police say

JAKARTA (JP): The number of larcenies, robberies and burglaries in the capital increased over the first three months of this year and is feared to rise further this month, police said yesterday.

City Police spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said police believed the worsening crime rate was linked to the deepening economic crisis that had resulted in high inflation and soaring unemployment.

"But we have yet to prove the assumption," he said.

The total number of reported larcenies and robberies increased to 133 in February from 114 in January, Aritonang said.

He declined to give the statistics for March, saying that the data was still being calculated but added he could tell it was higher than February's figure.

The total number of reported burglaries also went up, to 230 in February from 220 in January, he said.

University of Indonesia criminologist Adrianus Meliala said that he could accept the economic crisis as the main reason for the rising crime. He added the three above types of crime were the "easiest" to commit.

"I can especially believe the statistics for larceny and robbery as they are among the offenses which carry the smallest risk because they are more likely to be a hit-and-run operation which can be done by unskillful people," he told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

Aritonang, however, said that the total number of crimes committed in the capital, which police group into 90 categories, had declined from 1,338 in January to 1,213 in February and 873 as of the first three weeks of March.

Aritonang said the decline was due to the other crimes showing significant decreases.

"Only the three crimes I have mentioned showed significant increases in quantity but the rest, like fraud, scams, trickery, sex offenses and murder, went down," he said without giving detailed statistics of the other crimes.

During the same period, the number of crimes increased in the capital's outskirts of Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi, Aritonang said, although he declined to disclose any numbers.

"It is possible that crimes in the countryside rose because security in Jakarta was tightened during the General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (from March 1 to March 11)," he said.

But Adrianus said that crimes in the suburbs could increase even if security in Jakarta was not tightened.

"What I'm saying is that suburban areas are underguarded. For example, Bekasi is guarded by a limited number of personnel from only one police precinct," he said.

Aritonang admitted the police were finding it hard to provide an ideal security program because of their limited human resources.

"City Police have at least 17,000 personnel to guard the greater Jakarta area. But the ratio between the police and the public is still far from ideal," he said.

He said the ratio was now 1:800, which means that one police officer is guarding 800 people. The United Nations standard ratio is 1:350.

Aritonang said he was optimistic that the police could improve security and reduce crime rates further in Greater Jakarta despite the deepening economic crisis. (cst)