Police promise to secure city during Ramadhan
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police vowed to tighten security to help secure the capital during the fasting month of Ramadhan, which starts on Nov. 16.
"We will increase our patrols to places that are considered at high risk to crime to prevent crime from occurring," city police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam announced on Friday.
Anton said, for example, that police would intensify their patrols to once every half an hour from the regular once every two hours.
He said that some 5,600 police personnel would be deployed to back up the security operation.
Anton said those police officers would be taken from those in charge of safeguarding the People's Consultative Assembly's (MPR) Annual Session.
The MPR Annual Session ended on Friday.
The crime rate usually increases during the fasting month as more people need to survive due to the increasing prices of food and other goods.
Anton also said that the police had simultaneously launched two operations targeting firecrackers, explosives, pornographic VCDs, gambling and drugs. The operations codenamed Sadar Jaya IX and Anti Narcotics (Antik), started on Oct. 25 and will run until Dec. 25.
"We will raid places in Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi that are suspected of manufacturing firecrackers," he said.
He did not include Parung, south of Jakarta, as the center of firecracker production. An accident reportedly took place in a house where firecrackers were made on Thursday, injuring the owner's two children.
The police promised to crack down on all disturbances that could disrupt the Islamic holy month.
But, a looming menace might come from radical groups as they plan to conduct raids against entertainment centers that break the new rulings on closure during Ramadhan.
The Islam Defenders Front maintained that it would target entertainment centers that serve alcoholic drinks during Ramadhan, defying police warnings.
In a maneuver to bolster security for foreigners in the capital, the police have pledged to increase the safeguarding of foreign assets, which includes international schools.