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)