Councilor against trigger-happy cops

Councilor against trigger-happy cops

JAKARTA (JP): The chairman of the City Council said that it is
not against the law for a city police officer to shoot criminals
to death as long as the officer fulfills certain requirements.

"There are four things that should be fulfilled by the police
before deciding to shoot a criminal dead. First a policeman or
woman should fire warning shots into the air in an effort to stop
the criminal from running away. If he ignores the warning shots
then police are allowed to shoot him. Shooting a hard-core
criminal is also justified, or a repeat offender," M.H. Ritonga
said yesterday.

He was commenting on questions from the public about the
recent spat of criminals shot to death by city police officers.

Ritonga strongly denied allegations that there are many
trigger-happy police officers out there.

More than 10 criminals have been shot to death by city police
over the last few days. (yns)