'Poll crimes'overwhelm police

SURABAYA: East Java Provincial Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani said on Friday that crime statistics in the province over the past two weeks had been dominated by breaches of electoral law.

Out of the 89 legal violations, 53 were electoral violations, with the remainder being ordinary offenses, said the two star police general.

"This figure has been collated from both complaints from the public and detection by police personnel. It was recorded between March 11 and March 25," said Firman.

Out of the 53 violations, one was a bribery attempt, 17 involved the theft of flags, 19 attacks on property belonging to political parties, including cars, seven assaults, two cases of diploma forgery and 11 cases of premature campaigning, said Firman.

East Java Provincial Police headquarters also recorded 2,753 traffic violations during the two weeks that the official election campaign has been underway. -- JP