Crimes on public buses on the rise

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta Police have said that their intensified patrols and monitoring of rising street crime might have moved the crime hot spots to beyond the patrol's coverage, including on board public transportation.

Data compiled by the police's operational and control division shows that the number of crimes committed on public transportation is on the rise. During January and February alone there were 18 mugging cases targeting passengers of buses, taxis and minivans.

Earlier, city police detective chief Sr. Comr. Andi Chaeruddin said that street crimes were the second most common crime in the city after drug-related crimes.

Given the circumstances, according to city police spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo, the force is now designing a mechanism which can effectively be used by the victims or the drivers of public transportation to alert the patrolling police.

"What prevents the police from assisting victims who are robbed on board buses, despite the emergency service we provide, is that we always get the information too late. Moreover, not all victims are willing to make a report," Prasetyo told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

As a solution, he said, the police are now placing plainclothes intelligence officers or detectives on public transportation vehicles along crime-prone routes.

Recently, the police have augmented their fleet of patrol cars with 304 of the new Kia Carens patrol cars plus 60 sedans and Kijang minivans. Of those vehicles, 222 are equipped with a two- way communication system, while 100 of them utilize a Global Positioning System (GPS) device which enables the police computers to monitor the movements of each of the patrol cars.

According to Syahri Ramadan, a GPS technician who works for the city police, the planned installation of the device in all the patrol cars, numbering 500, would be completed in the next two months. The installation has been done in stages since July 2002 because the system is still under trial.

The police have also installed surveillance cameras in several critical sites, including the compound of the House of Representatives/People's Consultative Assembly in Senayan, Central Jakarta, and the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, which are popular sites for demonstrations.

The patrol is part of the police's 911 emergency assistance which residents can access through toll-free number 112, established to compensate for the shortage of policemen in the city. Currently, the ratio between police personnel and residents is 1:800, a far cry from the ideal ratio of 1:400.

All police on patrol are obliged to report the situation in the area they cover from time to time and their reports are aired by private radio station FM 91.1 KHz Suara Metro.

Not only that, residents are also allowed to send information or complaints to the city police chief via SMS to number 0811822777 which is held by the personal assistant of the city police chief.

Prasetyo said that the services would not be effective unless the public used them effectively.

"I suggest that the drivers of the public transportation vehicles give signs, for example dim their lights, to indicate that a robbery is taking place on board, or drive toward the nearest police station," he added.