Police Force Engages External Parties in General Selection to Strengthen Meritocracy
The Indonesian National Police (Polri) held its High-Ranking Officer (Pati) Assessment Centre for the rank of Brigadier General for the 2026 Fiscal Year. In this activity, Polri engaged external parties as part of its efforts to build human resource governance that is more transparent, objective, and competency-based.
The activity took place at Polri Headquarters on Tuesday (9/6/2026). The event was directly opened by Deputy Chief of Police Commissioner General Dedi Prasetyo. The external party involved was the founder of ESQ Corp, Ary Ginanjar.
Commissioner General Dedi stated that Ary Ginanjar’s involvement was a step to strengthen the meritocracy system within the national police force. This move simultaneously follows up on recommendations from the Commission for the Acceleration of Police Reform (KPRP).
In his directives, Commissioner General Dedi stressed the importance of leaders who can adapt to the increasingly unpredictable dynamics of the times. “The challenges facing Polri are increasingly complex, ranging from global geopolitical dynamics, cyber threats, and transnational crime, to rising public expectations regarding the quality of public services,” said Commissioner General Dedi. “Therefore, Polri needs leaders who are adaptive, have integrity, are humanist, and are capable of providing solutions for the public through an objective, transparent, and merit-based cadre system,” he continued.
On the same occasion, the Assistant for Human Resources to the National Police Chief, Inspector General Anwar, explained that the Assessment Centre has now become a strategic instrument. According to him, this process is not merely a formality of evaluation but a tool to map leadership capacity amid technological change and artificial intelligence (AI). “The Polri Assessment Centre was built to ensure that personnel career development runs objectively and is data-based. Its goal is not simply to assess whether someone is suitable or not for a particular position, but to discover the best potential of every personnel member so it can be developed optimally,” said Anwar.
Anwar added that the results of this assessment will become the foundation for future career development and job promotions, in line with Polri’s Grand Strategy 2025-2045. “We want to ensure that every personnel member has an equal opportunity to develop based on competence, integrity, and their potential. This is the essence of the meritocracy that we continue to strengthen within Polri,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Ary Ginanjar, as an external party, provided a perspective regarding the era of ‘Talentism’. He praised Polri’s move to start utilising Big Data to map personnel profiles with precision. “In the future, organisations will no longer compete based on who has the greatest resources, but on who is most capable of finding, developing, and placing their best talent appropriately,” said Ary.
He assessed that Polri’s approach of shifting to talent and potential-based assessments is a highly progressive step for a modern organisation. Assessment, he continued, is no longer viewed as a mere evaluation tool but has become a strategic instrument for mapping individual strengths and preparing future leadership. “I see Polri as one of the pioneering institutions that is starting to build Big Data on talent to identify the excellence profile of each personnel member more precisely. This is an important foundation for an objective and measurable meritocracy system,” he said.
Furthermore, he emphasised that this assessment process aims to place personnel in the most appropriate positions according to their authentic character. “Assessment is not about finding who is the best, but discovering where someone can provide their best contribution. When talent is placed appropriately, the organisation will move more effectively and the benefits will be felt directly by the public,” Ary explained.
According to Ary, talent-based placement will produce personnel who better understand the meaning of their duties, are more independent in their work, develop competencies more quickly, and are capable of delivering a greater impact for the organisation and the public. “The ultimate goal is not simply to produce individually successful leaders, but to build an organisation capable of developing sustainably through a system that runs based on competence, talent, and integrity,” he concluded.
For information, the Polri High-Ranking Officer Assessment Centre for the 2026 Fiscal Year was attended by 100 participants. Through an objective process and the involvement of external perspectives, Polri seeks to ensure that leadership cadre development proceeds based on competence, integrity, and the best potential of every personnel member.