National Police to be restructured, says Gen. Feisal
JAKARTA (JP): The organization of the National Police will be restructured this month, Armed Forces Commander Gen. Feisal Tanjung said yesterday.
He said National Police would have a new Vice National Police Chief position.
"The Vice National Police Chief position would be filled by a lieutenant general," Feisal said, after attending a ceremony commemorating the 51st anniversary of the National Police at Mobile Brigade Headquarters in Kelapa Dua, Bogor.
Feisal said that a decree verifying the change in the organizational structure of the National Police would be issued later this month.
The current organizational structure places the National Police Chief at the top position, followed by two deputies -- the Deputy of Operations and the Deputy of Administration.
The deputies supervise directorates, including the Directorate of Intelligence and Security, Directorate of Logistics, Directorate of Personnel Planning and Control, Directorate of Community Counseling, and Directorate of Traffic.
National Police Chief Gen. Dibyo Widodo refused to comment on a rumor saying that Jakarta City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata would likely fill the new Vice National Police Chief position.
He said that the new structure, called the general staff system, was aimed to optimize National Police performance, especially in public service.
"The implementation of the new structure is expected to help make National Police performance better and more effective," he said.
He said that police performance under the current directorate system had been ineffective.
He said the general staff system would replace deputy positions with assistants.
"I've already prepared my personnel, the best of course, to fill assistant positions," he said.
Dibyo said that the general staff system was actually not new, as it had once been implemented in the organization of the National Police.
"National Police had used the general staff system before it switched to the directorate system in the mid-80s," he said.
The renewed structure will put the National Police Chief at the top, followed by the Vice National Police Chief, and several assistants to handle tasks related to intelligence, operational, personnel, logistics, and community-counseling matters.
Support
Noted criminologist Adrianus Meliala supported the restructuring plan.
"The creation of the Vice National Police Chief position is appropriate and timely," he told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
Some tasks which are now handled by the chief alone would be delegated to the vice chief, so that duties and policies could be carried out and be made faster and more accurate, he said.
Adrianus predicted that the National Police Chief would handle policy-making and operational matters, while the vice chief would handle administration, logistic, personnel and human resource affairs.
He was confident that the replacement of deputy positions with assistants would help optimize police performance.
"Hopefully it will boost consolidation of current directorates so that they can work well together," Adrianus said.
Former National Police Chief from 1978 to 1982, Gen. Awaloedin Djamin, said that returning to a general staff system was the best thing to do, even though it would require a huge budget.
"The government should help provide funds," he said.
Feisal also called on police to be active in the democratization process.
"Police should not be left from the locomotive of democratization," Feisal said.
President Soeharto in his written speech at the ceremony called on the National Police force to improve its function as law enforcer and security provider of society.
Soeharto also urged police to increase skills, integrity and authority.
The President bestowed on three police officers yesterday the Bintang Bhayangkara Pratama and Bintang Bhayangkara Nararya medals of honor.
The three were City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata, who received the Bintang Bhayangkara Pratama for his excellent work and dedication, and Head of Traffic Education Center Col. Heri Harsono and Head of Workshop for Community Counseling Capt. Irmadi Jamian, both receiving the Bintang Bhayangkara Nararya for serving as police officers for at least 24 years. (cst/imn)