Police Chief designate seeks a safer Bekasi

JAKARTA (JP): Bekasi police chief designate Lt. Col. Harry Pribadi has pledged to devote his attention to the capture of the murderer of Herbin's family.

"I will give top priority to efforts to capture the killer of Herbin Hutagalung's family," Harry told reporters yesterday at his office.

Harry was replaced yesterday by Lt. Col. Gories Mere as head of the General Cases Investigation office of the Investigative Directorate at the City Police Headquarters and will be installed as new Bekasi police chief in the near future.

He will replace Lt. Col. Basyir Barnawi as chief of Bekasi police.

The murder of Herbin Hutagalung's family, which occurred early this year in Bekasi, will go down as one of the most violent and sadistic mass murders in the country's history.

Six members of Herbin's family were brutally slaughtered by a man who has been identified by the police but remains at large.

"The suspect (nicknamed "Gendut") is a cold-blooded criminal. He has the heart to leave his little children and wife for an indefinite period of time. Thus, holding his family hostage, a method that has proven successful in the past to trap several hardcore criminals will not work against him," he said.

Although Harry pledged to do his utmost to crack the case, he could not assure that the suspect would be nabbed anytime soon.

Rising

Harry said he will also pay serious attention to the security situation at housing complexes.

"The crime rate is now rising steadily on the outskirts of Jakarta, including Bekasi. Thus, the question for me is how to secure the housing complexes where many educated workers of Jakarta now live," he said.

He is of the opinion that Bekasi might require some unique security system suitable for the mushrooming of residential housing complexes which mark the area.

"I already have a plan to discuss with the developers as to what kind of security system is most suitable in the housing complexes they are going to build. The residents of the housing complexes should also be involved in the discussions," he said.

Like Harry, his successor Mere also spent most of his police career in investigative affairs.

Born in Medan in 1954, Mere graduated from the AKABRI (Armed Forces Academy) in 1976.

He served in Namibia in 1989 and 1990, and in the UN Peacekeeping force in Cambodia in 1992.

He worked as a private assistant to the city police chief prior to his new job. (jsk)