New policing system wins over public

New policing system wins over public

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

If it were not for the police officers in full uniform inside the
building, people would think that they were inside a post office
when stepping into the Mega Mall police station in Bekasi, West
Java.

Detention, scowling faces and handcuffs have been replaced by
easy-to-approach officers, promotional flyers on preventing drug
trafficking, and consultation and meeting rooms to talk about
problems in the neighborhood.

"We try to make this police station as friendly as possible
for residents, who come to file reports or to renew documents.
Not only that, we also try to make the station a place where
residents can discuss crime prevention," Bekasi Police chief Sr.
Comr. Edward Syah Pernong said on Wednesday.

The police station is one of three that have adopted Japan's
community policing system (Koban) starting three years ago.

The program, sponsored by the Japanese government and the
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), aims at
demilitarizing the police force in Indonesia. The National Police
were separated from the military in 1998.

Besides the Mega Mall police station, the system, known as the
Police-Community Partnership Council (BKPM), has also been
introduced in Pondok Ungu Mekar Sari.

JICA and Bekasi Police have already agreed to establish 11
similar police stations in the Bekasi municipality and regency.

An officer at the Mega Mall station, Chief Brig. Rusdi, said
that in two hours he would be visiting at least five households
and talked about how they felt about security in their
neighborhood.

"We just want them to feel that we are around and ready to
help. But sometimes many residents still wonder what a police
officer is doing in their neighborhood," he said.

Rusdi's efforts, however, have paid off, as according to a
2005 survey conducted by AC Nielsen police performance and image
improved significantly after they adopted the Koban system.

Some 55 percent of 1,619 respondents said that police
performance was better or much better compared to a survey three
years ago, in which only 49 percent expressed satisfaction with
police performance.

Some 97 percent of respondents also feel that their area is
safer, up from 92 percent in 2002, while 81 percent said that the
crime rate in their area had decreased, a better figure compared
to only 70 percent before the Koban system was implemented.

One of the Japanese trainers, Kazuyuki Fujizuka, 55,
acknowledged the positive progress after adopting Koban system.

"Besides skills, police officers here have much better
behavior compared to what I saw when I first came here. Several
times I come to crime scenes, and I have seen that they are now
more professional," he told The Jakarta Post.

Japan's Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Kiyohiko
Toyama, who came to Bekasi to inspect the program, said that he
would discuss the possibilities of extending the program to other
areas in Indonesia as he saw that it had a good impact on the
Bekasi Police.

"The project here is well known in Japan. The public really
support the project. We will expand this project to other areas
outside Bekasi. We will focus on training younger officers in
community policing so that they can train their fellow officers
to implement the ideas. So, no more Japanese officers will be
needed," he told the Post.

Besides community policing, Japan also helps Bekasi Police
with equipment and training.

Many cases, including a recent mutilation case and several
murder cases, had been solved after the police applied the
knowledge from the training, Edward said.