Police seeking funds to buy GPS

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The police have been seeking the city administration's assistance to procure Rp 40 billion-worth of global positioning system (GPS) communications equipment for installation in about 500 patrol cars, according to a city councillor.

Chairman of the Jakarta chapter of the United Development Party (PPP) Syarief Zulkarnain Ginting said on Monday that city police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanegara had invited councillors from the party to a meeting at the Jakarta Police Headquarters on Monday to gain their support.

"We were invited by Pak Makbul. The police asked the PPP faction to support them," said Syarief.

Syarief said Makbul explained to eight legislators in the meeting that the GPS equipment was badly needed.

"The police receive an average of 2,800 calls per day about various crimes from the public. The police cannot respond to all the reports quickly due to the absence of an adequate communications system," Syarief told reporters in his office.

Syarief, who attended the meeting, said that he could understand that the equipment was really needed by the police so that they could provide a better service to the public.

However, city police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam denied that the meeting with PPP legislators was part of police lobbying efforts for Rp 40 billion from the administration.

"It was only a routine get-together between the police and councillors," Anton told The Jakarta Post by phone on Monday.

Anton added that confirmation with city police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul was necessary regarding details of the meeting. Unfortunately, Makbul was not available when the Post contacted him.

Anton, however, acknowledged that the police needed a lot of money to purchase 500 GPS sets to respond to reports from the public about incidents.

He added that at present the police had only three sets of GPS equipment.