Delinquent police sent to 'pesantren'

Puji Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru

Riau provincial police are set to send some 150 delinquent police personnel to refresh their understanding of Islam and police ethics in a short course to improve their morality.

The short course is at a police-designated Islamic boarding school (pesantren), where police personnel will spend one week in a designated site, under tight surveillance.

Chief of Riau provincial police Brig. Gen. Deddy Komarudin said that the police personnel will be sent in three stages of 50 police personnel.

The 150 police personnel were singled out after violating police rules and regulations, such as trigger-happy, absent from duty, under the influence of alcohol, not respecting their superiors and other offenses.

Deddy said that the short course would be held immediately, and will be conducted in a building at the headquarters of the Riau Mobile Brigade on Jl. Achmad Dahlan in the city.

He hoped that after completion of the course, they could take self-retrospection from the misdemeanors that they had done earlier, so that in the future, they would be better police officers in terms of morality.

Riau provincial police currently have over 2,000 personnel.

Deddy, did not mention whether the delinquent police personnel with different religions other than Islam would also participate in the course that is designated and run like an Islamic boarding school.

At a (pesantren), students live on the school compound and are taught various issues, including general subjects and Islamic tenets. They are required to fully perform Islamic tenets, including praying five times a day. They are observed closely as their teachers also live on the school compound.

The close surveillance and also rigid and tight Islamic teachings are believed to bring them closer to God and give them a better understanding of Islam.