Criminals arrested, killed, but public still insecure

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police officials revealed on Monday that they had shot dead eight suspects and arrested 359 others believed to be involved in 271 street robberies in the past two months here, but despite such claims most people still feel unsafe.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Tito Karnavian of the City Police Detective section admitted that street crime in the capital was still prevalent.

"Even though we have been aggressively clamping down on street crime, it is still rampant throughout the city," Tito told a media conference.

In the past two months, the police had conducted an operation against street crime, such as robbery, larceny and auto theft.

Tito revealed that within the first two months of 2002, the police found that some criminals had shifted their targeted areas to other places in a move to evade police pressure.

"As we tightened our pressure in crime-prone areas such as Grogol and Tomang intersections, in West Jakarta, for instance, the perpetrators shifted their operation to Jl. Latumenten," Tito explained.

Andrianto, an employee with a private company in West Jakarta, questioned the effectiveness of the operation against the crime.

"I often see many suspicious people who take the same bus as I do -- the 6A bus which serves the Kampung Rambutan-Grogol route," said the young man, who recently had his mobile phone stolen on his way to work.

He said he would be extra cautious with them due to fears that they were thieves.

Similarly, Catherine Gazali, a bank employee was still shocked and traumatized after being robbed twice, once inside a bus, once on the pedestrian bridge in Grogol, West Jakarta.

"Last week, my boyfriend and I rushed to get off the bus when we saw a group of men, who we are quite sure are criminals, as they boarded the bus," she said.

Due to the incidents, Catherine preferred to commute by the far more expensive taxis rather than public buses.

Tito, who would soon be transferred from his post to another post in South Sulawesi, said the police found it difficult to eradicate crime due to the unorganized and sporadic nature of it.

He attributed the soaring crime rate to the country's economy which partly contributed to the massive layoffs of workers, which in turn forced them to a life of crime.

He said most of the criminals were unorganized and worked individually, which he confirmed by the weapons confiscated which comprised 41 traditional weapons including machetes, daggers, axes, swords and one gun.

But, according to the report from the police information center, the number of criminals using guns was on the increase. For instance on Feb. 8 alone, six robberies were reported, three of them were armed robberies. In February, there were 103 reported robberies in the capital.