Robberies committed by bogus policemen on the rise

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Alamsyah was driving his Toyota Kijang along Jl. R.E. Martadinata, North Jakarta, when two men in police uniform stopped his car. It was late at night and Alamsyah was suspicious, but after seeing their bronze badge, he opened the window to show his vehicle registration.

To his surprise, one of the two men suddenly forced open the door while the other pointed a gun at 22-year-old Alamsyah.

They commandeered the vehicle, with Alamsyah inside. At the Ancol toll gate, three kilometers away from the spot, Alamsyah, managed to get out of the van while the perpetrators made off in his car.

A week later, on late March 24, a teenager named Benny was forced to give up his motorcycle. It happened when four men in police uniform came out of a taxi and stopped Benny when he was passing in front of Balai Kartini on Jl. Gatot Subroto, South Jakarta, just 100 meters from a police post.

Two of the four men grabbed Benny's motorcycle and pushed him into the taxi.

The taxi then took Benny for a short tour inside the Jakarta Police Headquarters compound on Jl. Sudirman, South Jakarta, before dumping him out at the back of the compound.

Police records show that in the last three months, there were five cases of vehicle robberies conducted by people wearing police uniform.

The police believe that the robberies were committed by criminals posing as policemen.

But none of the suspects have been arrested, so it remains unclear whether they really were police officers or not.

This, however, does not mean that the police never do wrong.

At least 45 delinquent Jakarta police officers had been sent to the military police this year on various cases. Three of them were dismissed last month for an armed robbery.

Head of the city police detective division, Sr. Comr. Bambang Hendarso, appealed to the public to be careful when they were suddenly halted by a police officer who looked suspicious.

"If you are halted by a suspicious-looked policeman don't stop, just keep on driving toward the nearest police post," said Bambang.

Posing as a police officer in fact is easy, because buying the uniforms is as easy as buying candy.

Bambang said the police could not control or restrict the sale of police uniforms.

Police and military uniforms and their accessories such as rank pads and badges are available at the Senen market and its vicinity in Central Jakarta. Anyone can buy them. No questions asked.

"If I ask the customers for their police or military identity, they walk off to look for an easier place to buy. I could lose a lot of money," said Wati, one of the traders in Senen market.

"Here we don't have any regulations about selling the uniforms," she added.

Eri, from Reni Hilton Distributor on Jl. Kramat Pulo, Central Jakarta, a distributor of the uniforms to the traders in Senen market, said that he had to obtain a special license to run his business.

"We must get a license to open this kind of business from the Jakarta Military Command (Kodam Jaya). The license also stipulates that the shop owner must not sell the uniforms before seeing the customer's police or military ID," said Eri, who bought his supply of uniforms from a garment factory in Bandung, West Jakarta.

A police uniform, comprising of a long-sleeved shirt and trousers, is sold at Rp 65,000 (US$6.30), while the rank pad and other uniform accessories start at Rp 10,000. A hat carries a price tag of Rp 30,000.