People urged to enhance neighborhood security
People urged to enhance neighborhood security
Damar Harsanto
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Criminologists urged people on Saturday to enhance their
neighborhood security system amid the failure of the police force
to curb rising crime in the capital and to solve most crimes.
"It is timely for people to set up a neighborhood watch and to
maintain security within their communities for their own
protection," said criminologist Harkristuti Harkrisnowo of the
University of Indonesia.
Harkristuti said the people needed to have more solidarity and
sense of responsibility in upholding security in their own
community amid concerns that the police were powerless in
fighting rising crime in the city.
Otherwise, Harkristuti said, people would become easy prey for
criminals.
"People must be aware that if their neighbors' home is broken
into, their home could be next," Harkristuti said.
Meanwhile, police observer of the same university, Eko Dahana,
argued that the neighborhood security system should only support
police efforts not "replace" them.
"Civilians are not allowed by law to possess firearms for
their own protection, so the police still have the major
responsibility for public security," Eko said.
"We must avoid the presence of vigilante groups taking over
the role and function of the police."
Eko said the people could participate in upholding security by
immediately reporting an incident to police whether they are a
victim or witness of a crime.
However, Eko criticized the police for their reputation that
made people feel reluctant to report any crimes to police.
Police's operations are considered ineffective in preventing
crimes amid mounting reports of crimes in the city.
According to police records on the eleven most common crimes
in the capital, such as car theft, robbery, extortion, and drug
abuse, the number of crimes totaled 18,677 cases in 2001.
The number rose sharply from only 10,217 and 10,678 cases in
2000 and 1999 respectively. During the first seven months of this
year alone, the number of offenses had reached 9,869 cases.
Police said earlier that it would boost efforts to clamp down
on rising crime by, among other things, fielding more patrol cars
to operate around the clock across the capital.
Unfortunately, the rising number of offenses has not been
followed by an equally impressive number of crimes solved by the
police. Last year, police only solved 6,720 cases, a slight
increase from 5,724 and 5,940 cases in 2000 and 1999
respectively.
Eko alluded that the poor success rate of the police was
partly due to limited human resources and financial constraints.
"The police must recruit more personnel to increase the ratio
of police officers to the people," he said.
Ideally, Eko said, the ratio of police to population should be
one to 500, but in Jakarta with a population of 12 million on
working days and 8 million at night, the ratio reportedly stands
at one to 700.
Eko also recommended that the government increase the fund to
cover the operational costs of the police so they could improve
their services to the public.
"The poor services they deliver are partly due to the
unrealistic funds allocated to finance their operational costs,"
Eko said.