Expert shortage hampers success of police probes
JAKARTA (JP): A shortage of forensic experts in Indonesia has hindered the progress of many investigations, especially murders, the capital's Police chief said Saturday.
Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata said after delivering the keynote speech at a seminar titled "Policy on the Effects of Crime on People's Health and Lives" at the University of Indonesia's School of Medicine, that there were only 75 forensic doctors throughout Indonesia.
"I think the number of forensic doctors here must be increased. They are urgently needed in the scientific parts of criminal investigations," Hamami said.
Jakarta alone needs more than 100 forensic doctors to deal with its high crime rate, he said.
City Police data show that of the 11,209 criminal cases in Jakarta last year, only 5,330 were solved. The 1995 figures are 13,237 and 6,499, the 1994 figures are 14,574 and 6,009; and 17,959 and 6,355 are the 1993 statistics. Last month alone, only 898 of 1,899 cases were solved.
"The involvement of forensic experts in criminal investigations provides a number of advantages, including increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the police.
"The doctors' involvement can also protect the human rights of both the victims and the alleged criminals," Hamami said.
With the doctors' help, officers can improve their success ratio by running more professional and accurate investigations.
"Moreover, forensic doctors can be called on as reliable witnesses in criminal cases," he added.
The head of the City Police's Detective Directorate, Col. Gories Mere, told the seminar that there were 11 categories of crime in the city's crime index, ranging from murder, rape, assault, and breaking and entering, to narcotics and other drug abuses.
"Cases involving most of these crimes need forensic help to solve them," Gories said.
He admitted that in addition to the limited number of forensic doctors, the involvement of the forensic experts was also hindered by the City Police's limited budget for forensic activities.
"Many police officers' ignorance about scientific crime investigations diminishes the role of forensic experts," he said.
Furthermore, not every doctor wants to attend crime scenes, he said.
"They think that it is the police's duty to investigate the crime scenes. Actually, it's the doctor's duty as well to make sure that nobody tampers with the evidence," he added.
The city police have tried recently to promote the use of forensic doctors, such as involving them as expert assistants in drug raids on popular night spots.
"But even this kind of action has been strongly opposed by other doctors. But with the help of forensic doctors, we have captured three alleged drug dealers and 46 alleged drug users," he said.
Saturday's seminar also featured noted criminologists Adrianus Meliala and Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, forensic experts TB. Mun'im and Budi Sampurna, journalist Sofyan Lubis and lawyer Bismar Siregar.
The head of the Jakarta branch of the Indonesian Doctors Association, Agus Purwadianto, said that it was hard to become a forensic doctor here due to the limited facilities and the slow development of forensic technology.
"Forensic science is relatively new here. At present we are publicizing the use of forensic science to society. To build public awareness -- that forensic science is important -- is time consuming."
Despite the bleak situation regarding forensic science, Agus expressed optimism that Indonesia had the potential to produce high-quality forensic experts.
"We are accustomed to maximizing work results by using only simple medical methods. So I think both forensic doctors and medical students are ready to take the challenge in the future," he added. (edt)