Officers told to shoot first, ask questions later
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The robbery took place after Yudith had withdrawn money from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just withdrawn.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.