Identity of Depok Firefighter Threatener Revealed in "Helmet" Content Case
DEPOK – Police have revealed the identity of the sender of threatening messages to a member of Depok City’s fire service (Damkar), Khairul Umam. Officers have confirmed that the perpetrator is not a member of the Indonesian National Police (Polri).
Auditor of the Police Major TK II General Supervision Inspectorate (Itwasum) Polri, Senior Commissioner Manang Soebeti, disclosed that the identity of the message sender was obtained through tracing open data on the internet.
According to Manang, the threatener is named Wawan Gunawan, a casual labourer from Subang, West Java. This information, he stated, was obtained through a profiling method commonly used by authorities to identify individuals.
He noted that the threats experienced by Khairul were not serious in nature, as they were only made via WhatsApp messages and were not accompanied by any follow-up action.
“Actually, this is not really a threat because it only happened once or twice. Real threats would be intense, such as spamming or physical visits,” explained Manang.
According to him, the act is more accurately described as a frivolous message sent by someone who became emotionally provoked.
“Anyone can send a WhatsApp message like that—it could just be fooling around or someone getting emotionally triggered,” said Manang.
Manang explained that the identification was made to correct public assumptions linking the threats to the police institution. He acknowledged that Khairul did not directly accuse a police officer as the perpetrator. However, he noted that several comments on social media suggested involvement by law enforcement officials.
According to Manang, the threatener Wawan only sent the threatening message to Khairul out of foolishness after becoming emotionally provoked.
Previously, Khairul Umam received threatening messages after uploading educational content about the function of helmets as personal protective equipment (PPE). In the video, he explained that helmets are designed to protect the head from impacts, not to cause injury.