Observer: Police Performance Over the Past Two Years Must Be Assessed Proportionately
Jakarta (ANTARA) – Police observer Bambang Rukminto of the Institute for Security and Strategic Studies (ISESS) said the National Police’s performance during the two years of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka’s leadership should be assessed proportionately.
“The police continue to carry out their functions of maintaining security, tackling crime and securing national events. However, operational success does not automatically mean that police reform has succeeded,” Bambang said in Jakarta on Monday.
He said the main measure should not simply be how many cases are solved or suspects arrested, but whether the public receives justice, quality services and a sense of security.
The continuing prevalence of the “no viral, no justice” hashtag indicates that police services, particularly law enforcement, remain far from meeting public expectations.
Bambang stressed that the effectiveness of complaint channels such as Dumas Presisi and Propam Presisi must be demonstrated by their ability to handle reports professionally, without waiting for media pressure, and to provide victims with legal certainty.
The decline in the number of conventional complaints, from 11,789 in 2024 to 9,725 by the end of 2025, does not automatically mean that the number of violations has fallen.
“The measure of successful oversight is not how many complaint channels have been set up, but how effectively they deliver corrective action and justice for victims,” he said.
Bambang underlined that every public complaint should be handled professionally and without discrimination, without waiting for public pressure or media attention.
He welcomed the positive trend in public-trust surveys on the National Police, but warned the force against becoming complacent.
General levels of trust, he said, differ from people’s satisfaction and actual experiences when dealing directly with police services.
“People may consider the police to be performing well in general, yet encounter difficulties when reporting a case or seeking justice,” he said.
“Therefore, survey figures should be considered alongside complaint data, service quality and people’s real experiences,” he added.
Bambang said police reform could be considered genuinely under way only when people no longer had to make a case go viral to obtain justice, and when law enforcement was equally accessible to all sections of society.