Gen. Hindarto warns corrupt officers of harsh punishment

JAKARTA (JP): City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto expressed concern Saturday over the increasing number of illegal levy cases committed by city police personnel.

"Although the number is still small, I have found strong indications that it is growing," Hindarto said after inducting the new chief of the East Jakarta police, Lt. Col. Miyanto.

Hindarto warned, and reminded police officers, that he will not hesitate to take stern action against those officers who are found to have committed such illegal activities.

The negligent police will face serious punishment, including dishonorable discharge and imprisonment, he said.

The two-star general admitted that he forgot the actual data of the cases.

A total of 30 city police personnel, allegedly to have been involved in different cases, are currently being detained, waiting for the completion of dossiers of their cases.

Late last year, the number of the detained officers was over 100.

For many, the number shows a significant decline in the cases, but not for Hindarto.

He said city police headquarters had received many letters from the public complaining about the bad attitude of his personnel, including levying motorists who violate traffic regulations.

"I have to respond immediately to all these complaints by taking harsh punishment against my personnel, to prevent the problem from growing uncontrollably," Hindarto vowed. "We have to make the number as small as possible."

Appreciating the public's concern to help improve city police attitudes in providing services to the public, Hindarto once again invited Jakartans, as well as foreigners, to write or report their complaints via his headquarters or PO Box 777, Jakarta.

"Please do not forget to write down the officer's name and rank and the date and place of the incident," he said.

Most of the public complaints, Hindarto said, dealt with illegal levies by police personnel against traffic violators.

"Most of the negligent are personnel of sergeant's rank," he said.

He advised the newly-installed chief of the East Jakarta police precinct to closely and intensively monitor the attitude of his personnel.

"If we want to have a clean community, police officers should themselves be clean first," Hindarto said.

Lt. Col. Miyanto, 53, replaces Lt. Col. Susmono Soesilo who was assigned as an officer at the National Police Headquarters.

Miyanto's previous job was head of the vehicle documentation unit at the City Police Traffic Directorate.

He graduated from the Armed Force Academy (Akabri) in 1973, Police High School (PTIK) in 1984 and Senior Police Officer School (Sespim) in 1990.

The father of two has also taken a comparative study in Britain and Germany. (bsr)