Police infractions continue unabated, worsening image

Police infractions continue unabated, worsening image

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Heidy, a legal consultant for a foreign company here, complains
that she has paid a lot of money to police investigators handling
her client's case.

"But it seems that they (the police investigators) want to ask
for much more because they insist that my client's case is a
crime rather than an ordinary dispute," she told The Jakarta Post
recently.

Heidy has no bargaining power over the police officers
involved as all the money was paid "under the table", so that she
has no evidence of having paid it.

"We have no choice but to meet their demands," she sighed.

Heidy is not the only victim of such practices, which
observers say are rampant among police officers, including their
commanders.

West Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Bambang Wasgito recently
made the headlines for allegedly blackmailing traders of
traditional Chinese medicine in Glodok, West Jakarta.

He has denied the allegations, but copies of receipts obtained
by a member of the House of Representatives, Haryanto Taslam,
clearly implicate Bambang. The legislator submitted the copies to
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar early in June.

Based on the evidence, millions of rupiah was paid to the West
Jakarta Police by criminal suspects or their families to finance
the interests of Bambang and his personnel.

For example, the receipts were reportedly for Rp 60 million to
help pay for a car for Bambang, Rp 2.5 million to repair the car
and Rp 2 million for entertainment purposes, as well as an
apparent Rp 5 million payment for Bambang's deputy.

This signals that blackmail is common within the police force,
which celebrates its 57th anniversary on July 1.

Far from the police motto of "to serve and protect the
public", the force's image remains tainted by allegations of
corruption.

"Ask the public about it. Most people have something bad to
say about the police's performance and professionalism," said
Erlangga Masdiana, a criminologist at the University of
Indonesia.

He said the poor service provided to the public simply
reflected that the police force, which separated from the
Indonesian Military in 2000, have yet to display significant
improvement.

Erlangga said that instead of ensuring security, police often
instilled fear among the public, citing the recent case of a
stray bullet -- fired by Brig. Budi of the West Jakarta Police
while chasing a suspected drug dealer -- killed two girls,
including a three-year-old toddler, and injured another
bystander.

He also said that blackmail by high-ranking police officers
indicated that the practice was deeply rooted in the
organizational structure of the police force.

"The police should not turn a blind eye to such practices.
Otherwise, it will totally destroy their already-tattered image,"
said Erlangga.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara
did not deny nor confirm reports of blackmail and extortion
within the police force.

He simply said he would not tolerate any wrongdoing by his
personnel. "Please report any irregularities committed by police
personnel to me."

The public can send reports via short message service (SMS) to
Makbul at 0811822777.

Violation of laws and discipline committed by police
from January to May 2003: Violation of the Criminal Code (37
personnel), violation of traffic regulations (25 personnel),
breaching of police conduct (19 personnel), police uniform
infractions (2 personnel), police ID infractions (4 personnel),
vehicle registration infractions (7 personnel).