Officers lose money in antigambling drive

Officers lose money in antigambling drive

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Owners of gambling dens have clearly been hurt financially in the
recent drive against gambling in Jakarta, but many police
officers have also lost money as a result of the campaign.

Awang (not his real name), 45, an illegal lottery (togel) boss
who controls South Jakarta, said he could no longer afford to
give money to police officers because he had ordered his men to
close down all operations until the antigambling drive blew over.

"Usually, I gave Rp 500,000 to each officer who visited me
every week, while my men in the neighborhoods gave Rp 50,000 a
day to patrol officers. It seemed like I was giving money to
every police officer in South Jakarta," Awang told The Jakarta
Post on Wednesday.

Awang speculated that even larger sums of money were paid to
high-ranking officers by the owners of large gambling den.

A recent report claimed at least 14 provincial police chiefs
were involved in protecting gambling operations.

Fearing arrest during the police campaign against gambling,
Awang has halted all his togel activities, along with his
payments to police officers, for the past three weeks.

National Police chief Gen. Sutanto announced on July 11 a one-
week deadline for provincial police chiefs to eradicate gambling
in their respective areas. He warned that dismissal or even
criminal charges awaited those chiefs who failed to comply with
the order.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani quickly ordered
his top officers, precinct and subprecinct chiefs to end all
gambling in the capital within three days, with the threat that
failure would result in them being relieved of their duties.

The Jakarta Police have arrested over 500 suspected gambler
and gambling operators. However, there have been complaints that
none of the major gambling dens have been raided and no major
gambling bosses arrested.

Police also recently confiscated thousands of gambling
machines from 16 gambling dens in the capital.

"All of the other big bosses have stopped their operations and
have also stopped giving money to the police. We will see what
happens in the next two or three months. Right now, we do not
have the budget to feed police," Awang said.

A credible police source at Jakarta Police Headquarters said
many officers were beginning to grumble about the money they were
losing during the antigambling campaign.

"Many officers, especially in the Mobile Brigade and the
general crimes and traffic units, are looking for other sources
of income to make up for the money they are losing from
gambling," the source told the Post.

The police announced last week that they would launch a one-
month traffic compliance campaign aimed at punishing traffic
regulation violators. Some observers suggested the campaign was
introduced simply to give police officers the opportunity to
collect money from traffic violators.

Firman denied these suggestions and insisted the campaign was
an effort by the police to make the streets of the capital safer.