Fewer cases solved as police focus on terrorism
Fewer cases solved as police focus on terrorism
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A year-end report by the Jakarta Police implies that city police
did not perform well this year because they failed to improve
services to the public.
The report, made available to The Jakarta Post, shows that the
police only managed to solve 33 percent of the total 34,463 cases
recorded this year, or 11,492 cases. Last year, they solved a
higher 40 percent, or 13,736 cases, out of the 34,270 offenses
recorded.
"Indeed, the level of 'crime clearance' is one of the main
yardsticks to measure police performance," said city police
spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo on Friday.
Commenting on the report, Prasetyo said the police would carry
out an in-depth evaluation of the report to find out the causes
of their declining performance.
"One of the main causes, I assume, is the fact that many of
our detectives have been assigned to help investigate bombing
cases, including the recent bomb attack at the JW Marriott
Hotel," he said.
He was referring to the Aug. 5 bombing in South Jakarta, which
killed 12 people and injured 147 others. The attack was the sixth
bombing in the city this year.
Prasetyo did not detail about how many detectives had been
assigned to help the investigation.
Meanwhile, Erlangga Masdiana, a criminologist at the
University of Indonesia, lambasted the police's tendency to
prioritize the solving of big cases so that they neglected lesser
crimes.
He said the public would judge whether the police performed
well or poorly based on day-to-day interaction between police
officers and the public rather than police achievements in
solving big cases, which sometimes do not directly impact the
interests of the public.
"Any measures to polish their tarnished image won't be
fruitful unless they put services to the public in first place,"
he asserted.
A senior police officer who requested anonymity acknowledged
that many police officers failed to provide good services.
"You can witness the excessive paperwork that people must go
through to get vehicle registration documents. It has become a
common sight, not to mention the illegal fees that must be paid
to bribe unscrupulous officers," he said.
According to the year-end report, a crime was recorded every
15 minutes and 26 seconds in the city this year, slightly higher
that last year's "crime clock" of 15 minutes and 33 seconds.
Auto theft remained the highest recorded crime this year with
5,524 cases. The number is lower than last year's 6,180.
The number of burglary cases soared by 20 percent to 5,524
from 4,567 in 2002, while robbery decreased to 1,822 from 2,546
cases.