For love of the police

Anyone turning 50 years old is usually less concerned about image and more about wisdom. Unfortunately, our police force, which turns 50 today, is once again emphasizing the need for personnel to strengthen the force's image.

As in previous Bhayangkara Day commemorations, the leaders of the National Police are focusing on gaining the trust and the love of the community the force serves. If this sounds like an old song, this is because the police have not yet managed to improve their image and win our hearts, although they have tried very hard.

Several incidents this year illustrate the police force's poor image-making score, and expose the problems that have beset the force all this time.

The force's failure to handle a series of student protests against bus fare hikes in Ujungpandang, in April, led to intervention by the military. Had the police succeeded in preventing rioting, the Ujungpandang incident might have been a different story, and the violence and the fatalities avoided.

Then there were the attacks by mobs of people on police precincts: In Pekanbaru last week after a man died in police custody; in Purwokerto in March, also after a man died while in custody; in Cilacap in February after a man who was collecting wood was reportedly shot dead by the police; in Bengkulu in March because police were believed to be protecting the suspected murderer of a schoolgirl. The allegations of police brutality arising from such incidents have not helped the force's image.

How much, or how little trust, the public has in the police was illustrated by the survey done recently by University of Indonesia criminologist Purniyanti. He found that 27 percent of the people surveyed would rather not report the crimes they witnessed or experienced to the police because they thought the police incapable of solving them.

To be fair, we believe the police force has done a tremendous job in trying to keep our neighborhoods safe, in easing traffic jams, and in going after murderers and rapists and other criminals. This year, they have stepped up operations against drug abuse with nightly raids in places where Ecstasy is known to change hands.

Unfortunately, the police have not been successful on many of these fronts: the crime rate is still high, traffic congestion is getting worse by the day, and we seem to have been reading more reports about brutal murders and rapes this past year.

The leaders of the National Police are the first to admit the shortcomings of their personnel. In light of that, it seems that Bhayangkara Day is a good time for introspection.

The problems facing the force are chronic ones. Our police force is undermanned, underpaid and underskilled. At 178,000, the force is handicapped as this means only one officer for every 1,100 people. (Singapore has a ratio of one for every 295 people). The low pay has meant that the police force has not been able to recruit the best people, and this in turn means the recruits require extensive training and education.

After hearing the same complaints year in and year out, it must have come as a great relief to the public when National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dibyo Widodo announced last week that some changes are underway.

Dibyo's plan includes the establishment of a police command in every provincial capital so that there will be 27 commands instead of the 19 at present. The Mobile Brigade, the elite branch of the force which is usually sent out to deal with rioters, will be expanded from 49 to 56 units in anticipation of more street protests in the coming years. And recruitment is planned in order to expand the size of the force to 200,000, bringing the ratio to one police officer for every 1,000 people. This is still far from adequate but progress nevertheless.

These measures may be small when set against the increasingly challenging tasks facing the force, but they are steps in the right direction that could help strengthen the National Police, and improve force's image, eventually helping it to gain the trust and love of the community.

And on this hopeful note, we wish the National Police a happy golden anniversary.