Forensic lab goes high-tech

Forensic lab goes high-tech

By K. Basrie

JAKARTA (JP): Only a few people know that the National
Police's Forensic Laboratory Center is home to an array of the
world's latest forensic technologies.

"We dare to claim that our laboratory is the best police
forensic laboratory in Southeast Asia," said the center's head
Brig. Gen. Untung Haryono in an interview with The Jakarta Post.

The laboratory, which analyzes material evidence in serious
crime cases, owns lie detectors and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
testers, both of which were used to investigate the starlet Ria
Irawan's alleged involvement in the death of a businessman and in
the murder case of East Java labor heroine Marsinah.

"We actually have had the lie detectors since 1980," said
senior staff member Col. Dudon Satia Putra. Another staffer,
Capt. James, added that DNA testing has been used at the center
since 1992.

Located in a four-story building at the National Police
Headquarters on Jl. Trunojoyo in South Jakarta, the forensic
center was established in 1954.

"Japan's police forensic laboratory is probably one of the
best in the world and we also have some of the same equipment,"
he said.

Unclean rooms

The laboratory also possesses a sophisticated Hewlett Packard
GC-IRD-MS device, which combines gas chromatography, an infra-red
detector and a mass spectrometer.

The fully-computerized device can be used for material
identification for narcotics, firearms, drugs, polluted matter,
ash and toxic material.

Sophisticated equipment such as an absorbance detector, a
liquid chromatograph, an ultra violet spectrometer and a detector
for flammable liquid are also available at the center.

According to James, a series of new devices, including the
latest lie detectors and DNA testing devices, will arrive by the
end of this year.

Nonetheless, the laboratory still utilizes quite a lot of old
equipment, especially in the area of optical equipment.

Most of the tools are kept in unclean rooms, but laboratory
officials say that the buildings will be renovated to ensure
better storing of the expensive equipment.

Investment

Most of the laboratory's 122 staff members, 95 percent of whom
are police members, are experts from different disciplines, such
as aeronautics, chemistry, explosives, fire, arson and sabotage.
Some of them have been trained overseas, some at the Bundes
Kriminal Amt in Germany.

"Some of our staff are still studying in other countries, like
India," said Untung, a graduate of the Overseas Command Course at
the Police Staff College in United Kingdom.

Senior officers say that substantial investment is necessary
to have such sophisticated tools and equipment and that trained
personnel is vital.

"It takes a lot of time and money to make personnel truly
professional," Dodon said.

Untung added, "Crimes in the future will use high-technology
and we have to anticipate it now."

The laboratory currently has branches in Ujungpandang (South
Sulawesi), Surabaya (East Java), Semarang (Central Java) and
Medan (North Sumatra).

The center in Jakarta takes orders from police in the capital,
West Java, Kalimantan and South Sumatra.

"We handle things that the branches cannot do because we are
better equipped," Untung said.

Some neighboring countries like Malaysia have also used the
laboratory. (bsr)