'Police must win people's hearts'

MAKASSAR, South Sulawesi: Insp. Gen. Firman Gani, chief of the South Sulawesi Provincial Police, called on all police personnel in the province to behave well and improve their public service to win local people's hearts.

"All police personnel should improve their service to the public and be committed to upholding the law in an effort to win the people's hearts. We must be close to the local people because we cannot be successful in doing our tasks without good cooperation with them," he said in a gathering with journalists here on Tuesday.

He said that in Britain police were highly respected because of their strong commitment to serving the public and upholding the law.

Firman, who was sworn in recently, replacing Insp. Gen. Sofyan Jacob, current chief of Jakarta Police, said the police should also enhance cooperation with the press to give all information on the police to the public. -- Antara