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)