Police reach out to residents to wind hearts and minds

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Brig. Ngatiyono has been a policeman for 27 years. Donning a dusty uniform and rubber sandals -- after his shoes got soaked through in a sudden rainstorm -- he did not look particularly special.

However, his characteristic pleasant demeanor has given him an opportunity to participate in a drive to improve the Jakarta Police's services to the public.

"Our daily tasks here include directing traffic, especially in the mornings and afternoons. You know how motorists here behave," he told The Jakarta Post on Monday at the Palmerah Police post in Central Jakarta.

Ngatiyono did not mention tracking down bombing suspects or a shootout with robbers as his most impressive experience on the force.

"Making friends, that's important. I remember when I got sick and was hospitalized. There was a resident of Kebon Kacang, when I was still stationed there, who came all the way from Manado, North Sulawesi, just to tend to me at the hospital almost every day," he said.

Ngatiyono and nine other police officers are stationed at the Palmerah post, a 36-square-meter structure with a reception area and a room for the head of the police post, equipped with a computer.

The initiative to improve the services of 284 police posts in Jakarta, Bekasi, Tangerang and Depok is driven by Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani.

In commemorating the 55th anniversary of the city police, which fell on Monday, he said the force would add 96 more police posts as soon as possible.

"Officers at the police posts are assigned to serve and to protect. They do not enforce the law. We have selected officers with good communication skills to be stationed at the posts," he said in his anniversary speech.

He added that a subdistrict would ideally have two police posts manned by 10 officers each, and should be the National Police's front line, with officers able to respond immediately to calls for backup within their jurisdiction.

The program is an adaptation of the Japanese koban, a one-room police post first introduced in its country of origin in 1881 as a shelter to protect officers from the elements. Koban are open around the clock, manned by officers in three shifts.

Although the Palmerah post has not yet been renovated into a koban like the pilot project in Bekasi, for Yosef, a security guard at the Permata Senayan Apartments opposite, the officers serve the neighborhood well.

"They regularly visit us to ask about the situation here, whether we ever get terror threats or not," he said. "Asking us for money? No, they have never done such a thing."

The officers ride their own motorcycles to the post and pay for the gasoline out of their own pockets.

"Headquarters doesn't provide us with motorcycles or transportation allowance," Ngatiyono said. "But we don't mind, since our patrol area is only about a three-kilometer radius."

At the end of the interview, Ngatiyono turned the tables around and asked the Post to fill in a form titled "New Friends".

"We have to report to the city police chief how many new friends we make every day," he said.