Officers told to shoot first, ask questions later

Apriadi Gunawan and Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Medan/Semarang

A top police officer in North Sumatra has instructed all his subordinates to shoot armed robbers on sight following an upsurge in holdups in the province.

The statement came after a fatal robbery on Monday in Medan municipality that killed a police officer.

"Police officers shall no longer hesitate to shoot armed raiders dead as the number of armed robberies has been increasing over the last few months," said North Sumatra Provincial Police chief Insp. Gen. Iwan Pandjiwinata.

He added that it would be better for the police to shoot the robbers than be shot themselves.

Some 150 armed robberies have taken place in North Sumatra province in the past 10 months. Of these cases, only 22 cases have been solved by the police and the perpetrators brought to justice.

According to Iwan, every officer shot in the line of duty would automatically be posthumously promoted, as had happened in the case of Second Brig. Sidabutar. After being shot dead in Monday's robbery in Medan, he was posthumously promoted to the rank of first brigadier.

Sidabutar was shot dead during a robbery by a gang of six raiders on the Kota Pinang branch of Bank Mandiri in south Medan. The six people, alleged to be members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), got away with some Rp 1.9 billion (US$211,000). Two other people were injured in the raid.

Separately, two bogus police officers stole Rp 13 million (US$1,382) in cash from Yudith Setianti, 37, a client of BNI Bank in Semarang.

The robbery took place after Yudith had withdrawn money from the Krapyak branch of BNI Bank in Semarang, the capital of Central Java province. As she was driving her car westwards to Kaliwungu, she was stopped by what she thought were two uniformed police officers on Jl. Randu Garut in Mangkang, Semarang.

One of the "officers" asked to see her driving license and other documents, but before she could respond he pointed a gun at her, demanding that she be quiet and surrender her valuables. The other "officer" then grabbed her bag containing the money she had just withdrawn.

The two robbers made off on a motorcycle.