Shoestring budget has forced reduction of patrols: Police

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While the capital was put on full alert right after the Oct. 1 bomb attacks in Bali, the police presence in the city seems to have grown weaker over the last week.

"We have to reduce the frequency of patrols as well as the number of officers deployed due to a lack of funds," said city police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani on Friday.

Firman said that rather than patrolling every day the police were now concentrating on certain places believed to be more likely targets of bombings or other crimes.

"We can't afford to patrol the streets randomly. We monitor only several important places. We conduct patrols based only on clear reports," he said.

Firman said that police officers, who were chasing criminals or terrorist suspects, should act only on verified intelligence reports.

Previously, many officers had complained they had to conduct operations with minimum funds, while many officers at the bomb squad had requested payment for their services in responding to bomb threats at office buildings and hotels.

The salary of a senior police officer is Rp 2 million (US$200) per month while the lowest-ranking officers are paid below Rp 1 million.

Many reports, however, show that a number of senior police officers have billions of rupiah in their bank accounts.

A member of the police's antiterror unit, who requested anonymity, said many police officers looked to other sources to fund their operations, including from gambling bosses and drug dealers. "What can we do? Our superiors just want us to arrest the bad guys. And they will get the credit."

Indonesian Corruption Watch activist Luki Djani said that income generated from illegal sources was not evenly distributed among police officers and lower-ranking officers supplemented their income through blackmail and extortion.

Firman, however, guaranteed the police's performance would not be affected by budgetary constraints.

"I have ordered my officers to be innovative in their security work. So far, we can still get the job done," he said.