Enhancing police efficacy

Almost all kinds of disorderly and indisciplinary conduct is blamed on failings on the part of the police. Actually, as the American police expert Walter Hartinger says, there is no correlation between the occurrence of disorder in the community and police shortcomings. The reason could be that such is the state of the community.

Aside from the fact that the police force as part of the Indonesian Armed Forces remains not quite ensconced, it also suffers from a gross shortage in personnel and supporting facilities. Police tasks differ from those of the military. They both protect the community but the approaches are different. Policemen are not soldiers.

There has been some thought of separating the police from the Armed Forces in order that they may become more professional and independent in the exercise of their duties. As long as the intent is to prevent confusion in function and approach, we support the idea.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta