Jakarta police praised for well done job
JAKARTA (JP): The city police have been praised by the public for their work in solving a number of challenging crimes recently.
In the past few months, the police have resolved all "big and difficult" cases, including last week's brutal murder of a mother and her three young children in Ciracas, in a matter of days.
In the past, police have taken quite a long time to arrest suspects in cases where worthy clues or key witnesses were not found.
"Now I'm really proud of them," commented businesswoman Maghdalena yesterday.
"As an ordinary person, I'd like to give a wholehearted salute to the boss and all personnel of the city police for their current outstanding reputation," said a motorcycle taxi driver.
The city police identified the suspects in the brutal killing in Ciracas only one day after the tragedy took place and named a 47-year-old man and his teenage son and two nephews as the suspects three days later, after the fingerprints found at the scene had been matched with the suspects'.
The 11 suspects in July's robbery and brutal rape of a mother and her two teenage daughters in Bekasi, about 30 kilometers east of here, were arrested in a matter of days, thanks to the sperm and blood stains found at the crime scene.
The Bekasi police precinct, which is overseen by the Greater Jakarta Police, got a special award from President Soeharto for that success. The President personally bestowed the Abdisatyabakti Award on the chief of the detective unit of the Bekasi precinct in a special ceremony at the State Palace a few days after the arrests.
In March, city police arrested one of Indonesia's most wanted criminals less than 30 hours after the culprit robbed a gas station in East Jakarta, killing two employees in the process.
It seems that the city police have given up their former methods of investigation, such as torturing people to extract confessions.
Methods
Now, they are trying to employ scientific methods of crime investigation; making the crime scene central to their inquiries.
Many believe that the current favorable reputation of the city police is mostly due to their talented and firm 'boss', Maj. Gen. Dibyo Widodo.
With the support of his strong and competent personnel at the crime investigation directorate, Dibyo, a former adjutant to President Soeharto, prefers going to the scene of the crime and interrogating the suspects to reading reports from his staff.
"In investigating criminal cases, we no longer need confessions but strong material evidence," the 49-year-old city police chief told reporters on Saturday after announcing the arrest of the suspects in the Ciracas murder case.
By having strong evidence, police dossiers can be completed easily and are more readily accepted by the prosecutors office, he added.
Among members of Dibyo's noted crime investigation team are Col. Nurfauzi, head of the city crime investigation directorate, Lt. Col. Edi Darnadi, the directorate's secretary, Lt. Col. Gories Mere, head of the general crimes section of the directorate.
After being appointed Greater Jakarta police chief on Jan. 27, Dibyo ordered all of his 15,000 personnel to investigate crime scenes in a very professional way.
Dibyo, a typical straight-faced officer, said that most of the recent success in crime-solving owed much to the strong cooperation and support provided by all related police personnel.
A few days after his appointment, Dibyo made several changes at the city police, including the demotion of undisciplined personnel.
"Discipline is above everything," he said at that time.
Today, it is rare to see police officers driving cars impounded for use as evidence.
Dibyo said that, despite the limited government budget for supporting the city police, "We'll try all our best to continue our efforts to become professional." (bsr)