Protectors of the public

West Java's chief of police Maj. Gen. Nana Permana's honesty in publicly acknowledging yesterday that one of his subordinates was responsible for the death of a robbery suspect while in police custody comes as great reassurance.

Although the irony of welcoming his statement is undeniable -- absolutely no one should die or even suffer in police custody because of torture inflicted -- nevertheless the moral courage and decency that is reflected in the West Java police chief's admission can only be highly appreciated.

There is little doubt that it will help not only to restore the public's diminished trust in our police force, it may also save the police as well as other officials much unpleasantness which would have surely come from a protracted public argument fueled by suspicions of foul play.

To refresh the memory: Cece Tajudin was one of two suspects being held by the Bogor city police in connection with a robbery and murder committed on the Jagorawi toll road earlier this month. On Oct. 11, Cece and two other men were traveling from Bogor to Jakarta with Rp 650 million when their sedan was intercepted by a Kijang van.

Three men jumped out of the van. One of them smashed the rear window of the sedan and shot one of Cece's companions, Zaenuddin, to death. The robbers made off with Rp 350 million in cash. Cece and one of his two companions, Norman Lubis, survived unscathed. Cece and Norman were summoned for questioning by the Bogor police, who later in the process declared the two to be key suspects in the crime.

Cece died while in police custody in Bogor. For a while suspicion also fell on the local military as the two suspects were reported to have been "borrowed" by the local military for questioning about their claims that a military man was involved: A handgun used by the military had reportedly been used in the robbery.

As has been reported, though, this claim was denied by Armed Forces Commander Gen. Feisal Tanjung. The Bogor military chief, Col. Eddi Budianto, was reported as saying the two mentioned the name of a member of the Armed Forces because they could not endure the torture at the hands of police interrogators.

That appears to leave the police as the sole responsible party in the death of the suspect Cece. As we have said, the frank admission of West Java police chief Maj. Gen. Nana Permana is a heartening development in this drama. Still, the very fact that torture, in whatever form, continues to be practiced behind the enclosures of our police headquarter cells and interrogation rooms -- supposedly to extract information -- leaves us with great cause for concern.

There has been talk lately of our National Police being in the process of developing a more "scientific" method of investigation and interrogation. Belated as it is, we hope this indicates that our police have finally come to grasp the importance of distinguishing between extracting information and extracting a confession. While the infliction of pain, physical or otherwise, may be a sure measure to make people talk, more refined methods are often more effective in extracting the truth.

It is all too often that one hears disparaging remarks among the public about the poor quality of our National Police personnel. This latest heartening case, however, gives us the hope that our National Police are moving steadily if slowly towards becoming a true protector of the public rather than a public scare.