Police mull recruiting vocational school graduates
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A high-ranking officer suggested over the weekend that police personnel be recruited from the so-called D1 program, instead of high school graduates, in order to get professionals with civilian mind-sets and perspective.
The governor of the Institute of Police Officers (PTIK), Insp. Gen. Farouk Muhammad, said his institution had held discussions with several universities across the country about providing the one-year program, known as Diploma 1 or D1, for police studies.
"We expect our recruits to be more rational, which is one of the major requirements for professional officers," Farouk told The Jakarta Post.
Under the proposal, those intending to enter the State Police School (SPN) or Female Police School (Sepolwan) will be required first to complete D1 program on police studies.
However, graduates of the police studies diploma program will not be automatically admitted into the SPN and Sepolwan, as they must also undergo a series of tests.
Each year, some 150,000 high school graduates apply for 25,000 seats in 25 SPNs and one Sepolwan across the country. The students attend the schools for five months, after which they undergo a six-month probation period at district police offices across the country. Once they pass the probation period, they are inaugurated as low-ranking police personnel, known as bintara.
"The only difference between high school graduates who often engage in brawls and SPN graduates is that the latter have been through five months of police training .... Five months is too short for us to shape them," Farouk said.
Farouk regretted that most low-ranking police personnel lacked initiative and always waited for specific orders before doing anything.
The public has often complained about police personnel mishandling crowds during rallies, protests or strikes.
Last month, several low-ranking officers beat several university students who were staging a peaceful demonstration outside the Supreme Court in Jakarta. The case is currently being investigated by the Jakarta Police Headquarters.
"We have a goal of recruiting a lot of low-ranking police for the National Police to be able to serve the people. However, this could cause a decline in the quality of personnel," Farouk said.
The 250,000-strong National Police announced last year that it would recruit some 25,000 low-ranking officers and 1,000 middle- ranking officers (perwira) annually until 2007.
Previously, the police were only able to recruit some 20,000 low-ranking officers and 500 middle-ranking officers a year.
By 2007, the police expect to have some 400,000 personnel to serve some 215 million residents, or one policeman for about every 500 people. The United Nations standard is one policeman for 350 residents.
However, the National Police have lowered their standards for the PTIK, which no longer conducts a series of tests to screen middle-ranking officers who have been on the force for at least five years.
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"We understand that they have undergone a series of tests when they applied for the Police Academy. So, it is not necessary to screen them again," Farouk said, adding that this would not lower the standard of PTIK graduates.
The PTIK now allows provincial police headquarters to select officers to send to the institute for bachelor degree studies (S1). The Police Academy is a three-year program.
Observers have said that the PTIK's decision not to screen its students is related to the National Police Headquarters' goal of increasing the number of high-ranking officers.
Some middle-ranking officers in the past have been known to complain about the difficulty of gaining entrance to the PTIK. Graduate of the PTIK are usually promoted to high-ranking officers.