New chief to get tough on bad police

BOGOR, West Java (JP): The newly installed Bogor Police Chief, Lt. Col. Ruslan Riza, said yesterday that he would not hesitate to take stern action against any of his subordinates found supporting nightspots which held Ecstasy raves.

"I will get tough on such errant officers. If he is a non- commissioned officer he will be detained. If he is a higher ranking officer he will be reprimanded," Ruslan told reporters shortly after his induction ceremony. He replaced Lt. Col. A. Rochyana who has been transferred to the Armed Forces Headquarters.

Ruslan said he would continue the operations, started by his predecessor, to stop Ecstasy users and traffickers in Bogor and surroundings areas.

"The first thing I will do is check the nightspots' operating permits issued by local authorities," he said, adding that those with no permits would be shut down immediately.

Before his appointment as the Bogor police chief, Ruslan, 44, was posted in Bandung as the chief of the city's intelligence unit.

Ruslan, a 1974 graduate of the Police Academy, had spent eight years in Irian Jaya on assignment.

In 1983 he was promoted to become the chief of the Pasar Rebo police precinct in East Jakarta. He then was posted at Tanjung Priok harbor and the Jakarta Metropolitan Police Headquarters. (21/bas)