Police need thorough overhaul to improve image

Soeryo Winoto, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It is interesting to listen to National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar's recent promise that the police will strive to establish improved standards by providing the public with better services and more protection. The police have to get closer to the people, the general has said.

The message here is the desire that "to protect and to serve" forms the core characteristic of everyday police duty, instead of merely being a slogan. The police chief must be well aware that people tend to remember police mistakes much better than achievements.

It is not easy for us to erase the memory of the recent, unintentional, but fatal shootings of a 12-year-old girl and a toddler in West Jakarta. Trigger-happy Bambang Suryanata caused the death of a bus driver in Indramayu, West Java, adding to the notoriety of the police.

While the police have taken pride in the arrest of the Bali bombing suspects, the case remains controversial, as many are suspicious, on the basis of past experience, that more parties may have been behind the bombing than just the Muslim extremists at whom the finger of suspicion has been pointed thus far.

With his statements, Da'i was trying to underline the acknowledgement of the police regarding their own weakness and the need to be open to criticism.

On their 57th anniversary, which falls on July 1, the police must be more aware of their position and reputation. Police reform has already started, particularly with the formal separation of the police from the Indonesian Military (TNI), a situation that hitherto had been blamed for deviations from what the functions of a police force are considered to be.

People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Decrees No. VI and VII/200 and Law No. 2/2002 were issued to respond to the police separation from TNI, and police reform measures were approved by the Assembly. Articles 4 and 5 of Law No.2 say that the police are entitled to play a role in maintaining security and public order, upholding and enforcing the law, and safeguarding and protecting the people, while respecting human rights for the sake of national security.

These articles carry significant consequences for the police, who have been drilled and trained in a militaristic way to achieve specific targets. The police have no other choice but to prepare themselves as well as they can to respond to the changes, now that they are no longer part of the military. They must now be able to blend appropriately with the public in their daily duty.

At this initial stage, the curricula of police schools have undergone basic changes.

The State Police School (SPN) for senior noncommissioned officers (bintara) at Lido, Sukabumi, West Java, the Institute of Police Officers (PTIK) in Jakarta and the Police Academy in Semarang have all applied new curricula, with human rights and other, related, sociocultural principles as obligatory subjects.

According to Gen. Da'i, 70 percent of the police officers in the country are bintara. "They are the real face of the police," he said.

Head of the Lido State Police School Sr. Comr. Anang Iskandar underlined his superior's remark, saying that it was the bintara who would face the public, with their various problems, on an everyday basis.

The curriculum for the bintara has been changed twice, the first time in 1999, with the second still ongoing. Anang said that everything was well-planned now at Lido. "All the subjects given to the students are well-structured; therefore, I am optimistic that the students will be ready to blend in with the public when they finish their classes in July."

Now that the new curriculum has been applied at all levels of police schools, many may have high expectations of the police force. Yet, maybe only a few understand that creating an ideal, and professional police force of high integrity is not as simple as clapping one's hands.

The police may be aware of the dire need for an overhaul, or "dialysis", in the words of one officer, to disassociate the police from any members that are still imbued with the old, militaristic style that previously characterized the police. However, such a process is costly and time-consuming.

From this year onward, the National Police are seeking 26,000 new recruits annually to lift the ratio between the police and population to 1 officer to 750 people -- a far from ideal figure when compared with the estimate of the UN of 1 to 300.

Even an expectation of better or more professional police in the next 10 years would be unrealistic. Police cadets, officers and new recruits currently taking their classes are all taught by and are under the auspices of their seniors, who, of course, bear the footprints of the former style of police training.

This means that newly graduated officers are also still affected by the former pattern of training and education from their superiors, who will retire at 58, according to the new rules in the police organization. Consequently, we will have to wait for at least two generations to reach their retirement.

Therefore, although a process of "blood purification" or "dialysis" may take much time, it is crucial to enable the building of a more professional police force, which will be able to deal with the increasing demands placed upon them. While waiting for an entirely new generation of police, professionalism must continue to be improved. In this way the new standards established by police superiors can became a reality, in order to regain public trust.