No-warrant raids disguised extortion, robbery

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A group of bogus police detectives are raiding unwary Jakartans' homes and searching them on the street, in a spate of extortions and robberies, police say.

On Jan. 4, a passenger on a public minivan was forced to take out his wallet and show it to three men who said they were detectives. The three accused him of being a suspect they were looking for and then took all his money.

Last week, two separate raids took place by a group of men in houses where residents were gathering to play cards. In both cases, the men, who also claimed to be detectives, asked for money from the card players as a payoff for letting them off gambling charges.

The victims made complaints to the police, who claimed the culprits were not members of the force.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo warned the public to be watchful of criminals, who often pretended to be police officers.

Not all residents were aware police should be able to produce search warrants and identification when they searched houses, he said.

"Don't hesitate to ask them show their police IDs to decide whether they are real policemen or bogus ones," he said.

However, a lack of awareness was not necessarily the reason the public did not ask for search warrants, according to Chandra Sugarda, program director of RCTI's crime program Sergap. Not all police raids took place with warrants, she said.

"There are two kind of police officers: those who get search warrants before raids and those who get warrants after," she told The Jakarta Post on Monday. "It depends on how disciplined the officers are."

She said she was preparing a list of tips for the program to raise public awareness on the matter.

"We will introduce the tips in our next programs," she said.

However, Satrio, a resident of Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, said while he was well aware of the need for warrants, he would not question police who searched his car.

"I know police have to carry warrants, but you know, sometimes they just force you to let them search your car," he said.

"Should that happen to me, I would comply. What else can I do?"