Police announce sharp drop in crime

Police announce sharp drop in crime

JP/3/CRIMES

Police announce sharp drop in crime

JAKARTA (JP): City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto said the greater Jakarta area has shown a considerable decrease in the crime rate since the launching of the ongoing massive anti-crime operation.

"Since the operation, codenamed Operasi Bersih (Cleansing Operation) was launched, all of the 70 kinds of crimes have shown a significant decrease," the two-star police general said yesterday.

The army sponsored operation was launched on April 11.

The number of forces involved in the operation has increased by almost three times from 16,700 personnel in the initial stages to 48,600 at present.

Hindarto said the 70 kinds of crimes fell by 13.8 percent to 2,110 cases in April from 2,448 cases in March.

The so-called "four main crimes", a police term for auto theft, muggings, break-ins and serious physical assault, recorded a 24.9 percent drop.

In April the police recorded only 944 reported cases of the four main crimes in the greater Jakarta area compared to the 1,257 cases in March.

In East Jakarta, for instance, which for years ranked first in crime, police recorded a 50 percent drop of the four main crimes.

"There are only eight cases reported every day since the operation. Before, there were 15 to 20 crime cases reported every day," said Lt. Col. Susmono Susilo, East Jakarta police chief, yesterday.

On some days, especially on Sundays, there were no cases reported at all, Susmono was quoted by Antara as saying.

"Formerly we were almost always ranked first in crime cases in the greater Jakarta. Now, we rank fourth," said beaming Susmono proudly at a ceremony at the Jakarta military garrison where 40 youth organizations read their pledges to participate in the operation.

Susmono's statement was supported by Lt. Col. Didi Supandi, spokesman for the Jakarta Military Command.

"Based on the results, we call once again on all walks of life to take part in the operation so that a more secure life can be created," Didi said.

Didi and Susmono credited the success of the operation to the participation of the public in general, the majority of whom were throwing their weight behind the military and the police in the operation from the beginning.

Dark cases

Hindarto said he hoped that the significant drop in crime cases in the greater Jakarta area would give more time to his personnel to tackle other cases which remain in the dark.

"We hope that we can fully concentrate on solving other crimes which require more thought," he said.

Thus far the city police, however, have yet to solve some big crime cases, including the murder of six family members of Herbin Hutagalung in Pondok Gede, the murder of a kindergarten girl, named Levina, in Ancol and the assassination of a businessman with reputed mob connections, Nyo Beng Seng, in Pluit, North Jakarta.

Around 1,500 criminals have been captured and millions of bottles of liquors and hundreds of sharp weapons and firearms have been confiscated during the Operation Cleansing.

Police and military sources said the operation was aimed at ending street crimes in preparation for the upcoming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Bogor, south of here, which will be attended by a number of heads of governments from several countries.

However, the Jakarta Military Command insisted the operation was mainly aimed at combating crimes, which had been increasing since the beginning of the year.

"Thereby, it will continue after the APEC meeting," said Brig. Gen. Wiranto, chief of the staff of the Jakarta Military Command, last week. (bsr/jsk)