Police warn of rising street crimes

Police warn of rising street crimes

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While introducing a new method of categorizing crimes in Jakarta,
the City Police warned on Tuesday over the increasing trend of
street crimes in the capital city.

"The (street crime) category has been established to place
special attention on quashing such offenses, amid the rising
concerns regarding street crimes," City Police Detectives chief
Sr. Comr. Andi Chaeruddin told The Jakarta Post.

Andi elaborated that the street crime category constituted
five types of crimes, including mugging of bank customers and
extortion aboard public transportation vehicles, which have been
on the rise.

"Based on our analysis of crime patterns, we conclude that
there has been a shift in the crime scene (from residential
areas) to the streets, partly thanks to heightened security
upheld by local residents," said Andi.

Data from the city police operational and control division
shows that street crime was the second prominent crime category
in the city from January through February, after drug-related
crime.

Data showed that in January, 33 cases of street crime were
reported to police, while in February, 34 cases were reported.

Meanwhile, three muggings of bank customers were reported to
the police in the first two months of this year, compared to five
cases in 2002 and six cases in 2001, from the same months.

The report also showed 18 mugging cases committed on the
streets from January to February, which targeted passengers of
public transportation vehicles, including buses, taxis and public
minivans.

Despite the increasing trend of street crimes, drug-related
crimes topped the list with 225 cases in January and 132 cases in
February.

In the first two months of 2003, the police received 4,320
cases, of which they had managed to solve around 1,500.

Many experts have warned that in reality, the crime rate was
much higher than the official figure, owing to the great number
of unreported cases.

Many people are reluctant to report any crimes of which they
have been victims, because of the police's poor performance so
far in handling reported cases.

Adrianus Meliala, a criminologist at the University of
Indonesia, welcomed the new street crime category as a step
forward in improving police services for the public.

"The streets are public places. Improvements in the way we
cope with crime on the streets, also mean improvements in public
service," Adrianus said.

Adrianus, who is also an adviser to National Police
Headquarters, contended that the street crime data would give
police more accurate information for them to use in effectively
curbing the rise in street crime.

He added that, for example, police could recommend the city
administration to install more street lamps in crime-infested
areas, or even surveillance cameras to deter any criminal
activity. Further, police patrols in those areas could also be
increased.

The city police plan to procure 500 patrol cars this year in
an attempt to reduce the number of street crimes. The new cars
are to be equipped with the Global Positioning System (GPS)
technology, which enables the police switchboard to monitor each
car and contact them anytime, anywhere.

The city police have received 364 of the new cars so far, but
only six are already equipped with the GPS technology.

Meanwhile, Adrianus warned that the improvement in the data
records would be useless if the police failed to act upon the
existing data.