Officers to undergo more psych tests

Eva C. Komandjaja and Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Surabaya

The National Police say they will tighten their recruitment procedure following a fatal shooting involving two officers in Jombang, East Java.

National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis said on Thursday the police were considering using a more complicated psychological test for candidates who wish to join the force and more frequent tests on recruits and all officers.

"During a psychological test, you will identify someone's behavior and what's inside his or her mind. Through constant tests on officers, it will make it easier for us to anticipate a change in behavior that could lead to such an incident," Zainuri said.

First Insp. Sugeng Triyono, an administration staff officer with the Jombang Police shot Adj. Comr. Ibrahim Gani, head of the anti-riot unit, in the latter's office on Wednesday morning. Sugeng killed himself after firing two shots at Gani.

Gani, who suffered gunshot wounds to the chest and hip, is recuperating at Bhayangkara Police Hospital in the provincial capital of Surabaya.

Jombang was stunned by another incident in 1989, when Sgt. Muhamad of internal affairs shot dead Corp. Joko.

Zainuri said that psychological tests were currently only mandatory for people joining a recruitment program or officers who wished to attend the police academy.

"Now we're thinking of conducting such tests whenever an officer is seeking a promotion and when he or she upgrades their education," Zainuri said.

He acknowledged the police had no special unit to handle psychological problems facing its personnel.

"There is an internal affairs division, but its main job is to monitor achievements of each officer instead of paying attention to the (mental) condition of the officers," he said.

In Jombang, Sugeng's superior Comr. Mohamad Paiman, head of the administration unit, said he did not believe the incident was sparked by hatred, saying Sugeng had befriended Gani since they graduated from the officer's school in Sukabumi in 1994.

"They used to trade jokes. We likened Sugeng to comedian Basman due to the similarity in their features," Paiman said.

Some officers suspected that Sugeng was frustrated because he was transferred to the administration unit from the "lucrative" traffic section with the local police.

Paiman rejected the speculation, saying the transfer was made at Sugeng's request. But Paiman did not rule out the possibility that Sugeng might be depressed because working as an administrative staff was definitely more boring than working in the traffic section.

Gani said he did not think Sugeng would shoot him when he grabbed his pistol that morning.

"I asked him why he did that to me after he fired two shots," Gani recalled.

Despite the gunshot wound in his chest, Gani managed to crawl to the door while Sugeng was preparing a third shot.

"I realized Sugeng had died when I was undergoing treatment here," Gani said.

East Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Endro Wardoyo said the police considered the case closed as the perpetrator was killed, but would send a team to examine whether the Jombang Police conducted the mandatory annual medical examination on its personnel.

Sugeng's sister-in-law Tutik Pratiwi said he had complained about an unidentified illness since December and sought help from a traditional healer.

"His illness, however, did not affect his behavior or his compassion toward his wife," Tutik said.