Police impound vehicles from teens on wheels
Police impound vehicles from teens on wheels
JAKARTA (JP): Operation Cleansing resulted in 100 motorbikes
and 46 cars being impounded from night-time, daredevil street
racers in a recent raid on major roads in the city.
The Jakarta Military Command said yesterday the raid, which
included Jl. Sudirman, Jl. Thamrin and Jl. Casablanca, was
conducted on Sunday evening.
Col. Dharma Kusuma from the Jakarta Military Command said most
of the night racers caught red-handed were high school and
university students.
After being given a "lesson", the night racers were sent back
home, but their vehicles were held by anti-crime personnel at
the military garrison pending legal proceedings.
"The night racers pose danger not only to themselves but also
to others. And often their actions lead to the death of the night
racers or innocent passers-by," said Dharma.
Operasi Bersih, the local name for the anti-crime operation,
did not originally target the speed demons. It started to crack
down on them only recently after the press reported that the
phenomenon seems to be getting worse despite the ongoing anti-
crime drive.
The police force, which is directly responsible for tackling
the daredevils, recently admitted failure to thoroughly resolve
the case.
Col. Hotman Siagian, head of the Traffic Directorate at the
City Police Headquarters, said the failure resulted from the
lenient penalties meted out by the traffic law for such
lawbreakers.
"Under existing law, we are only allowed to impound the
racers' vehicles and ticket drivers found guilty of exceeding the
speed limit," Hotman told The Jakarta Post last week.
Currently motorists are fined a maximum of Rp 5,000 (US$2.29)
for speeding.
"We think we should apply stricter penalties to offenders," he
said.
Also, some officers, argued the impotence of the police to
tackle the street race case is because most night racers are
children of influential high ranking officials.
In thee past the night racers found it easy to avoid penalties
and reclaim their vehicles from the police thanks to the clout of
their parents or relations.
Stickers
In a related development, the Jakarta Military Command said
yesterday the personnel of the anti-crime operation had attached
17,871 "anti-crime" stickers containing the Starpage pager
numbers of the Operation Cleansing squad at public phone booths
across the greater Jakarta area.
Col. Sutarto, Operational Assistant to the Jakarta Military
Command, urged the public to contact the numbers if they see
something suspicious or witness a crime.
"Ten minutes after being contacted the motorbike patrolmen
will arrive at the location," Sutarto pledged.
The pager number is 19201 for Central Jakarta, 19202 for North
Jakarta, 19203 for West Jakarta, 19204 for South Jakarta, 19205
for East Jakarta, 19206 for Tangerang and 19207 for Bekasi.
The Starpage numbers are 314-4000, 310-1188, 390-2222 and 331-
100. (jsk)