Police tell public to watch out for ax-wielding gang

JAKARTA (JP): A senior city police officer admitted on Thursday that the force was unable to provide round-the-clock protection from street criminals, including gangs preying on motorists carrying cellular phones.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis said Jakartans also needed to play a role through being on constant alert while driving their cars or crossing the street.

"Due to the limited number of our personnel, it is impossible for us to watch closely all areas and monitor suspected criminals 24 hours a day," he told The Jakarta Post at his office.

"So, we ask motorists and pedestrians to keep alert to the possibility of crime on the city's streets, especially for the newest types of crime."

Zainuri was asked to comment on the soaring public complaints about violent street robberies focused on cellular phones.

Reports say the crime is usually carried out by a gang of at least four people who wait at traffic lights. One of the robbers is usually armed with an ax.

After spotting prospective victims, who are usually female drivers, the robbers surround the car, banging on windows and shouting for "hand phones".

First reports of the crime surfaced last week.

A Bekasi resident identified as Ronny S. told of his nightmare encounter with an ax-wielding gang in a letter to Kompas daily on Monday.

He said he was driving at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday last week when four youths surrounded his car in Rawasari, East Jakarta.

They demanded he hand over his cell phone.

When Ronny resisted, one of the men pulled out an ax from a bag and began hitting his car windshield. Ronny escaped the attack by moving his car close to other vehicles, pushing the horn and showing the men a car tool in his hand.

The previous day a similar crime occurred during heavy afternoon traffic on Jl. S. Parman, near the Tomang intersection in West Jakarta.

The victim, identified as Odi Sipul, was heading from Grogol to Slipi when a group of seven men encircled his blue Toyota Kijang van. One of them, brandishing an ax in his hand, shouted for Odi's mobile phone.

A frightened Odi handed over his phone and drove on. A few meters away, he saw police officers and informed them of the crime.

Along with Odi, the officers rushed to the scene and found the seven men at a bus stop in front of Mal Taman Anggrek, a shopping mall, which is situated on the opposite side of the street from the scene of the crime.

After firing warning shots into the air and with the help of ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers, the officers caught four of the men. The three others escaped, taking with them the ax and the mobile phone.

In his letter to the daily, Ronny urged the Jakarta Police to post plainclothes officers at crime spots.

Zainuri said the city police deployed plainclothes and uniformed personnel at main intersections of the city's streets.

"But we're unable to deploy them 24 hours a day."

He reminded the public that there were 16,000 police personnel to cover the greater Jakarta area, which has a population of about 20 million.

"It's far below international standards which seek a police to population ratio of 1:300," said Zainuri.

Criminologist Adrianus Meliala said the inadequate number of police personnel should not be used as the justification for the Jakarta Police to shirk their responsibility to maintain peace and order in the community.

"The police must be able to place the right officers in the right place, and at the right time," he said on Wednesday.

The lecturer from the University of Indonesia added the police could deploy personnel either in plainclothes or in uniform at crime spots.

Zainuri explained that the city police could only recruit an average of between 100 and 200 new personnel annually due to the limited funds allotted by the central government.

Adrianus said that people should not assume that other members of the public would come to their assistance because residents of major cities tended to put their own interests first.

"It is the police's job to help them," he said.

Dyan Shinto Ekopuri Nugroho, a bank employee who used to drive alone home until late at night, agreed with Adrianus that it was the police's responsibility to identify major crime spots and deploy their personnel there.

"The police must be present in those areas, and pull back from less crime-ridden areas for the most effective approach," she said. (asa)