Police reach out to residents to wind hearts and minds

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.