South Sumatra Police Chief Irjen Sandi to Subordinates: Our Boss is the Community

Palembang, VIVA – The South Sumatra (Sumsel) Police Chief, Irjen Sandi Nugroho, emphasised that the police’s boss is the community. For the Indonesian National Police (Polri) institution, the public is not merely an object of security, but the true ‘boss’ who holds the highest right to assess and evaluate the performance of law enforcement officers.

This firm and humane statement was stressed by the Police Chief when giving directions to the Main Officials (PJU) in the routine Coffee Morning agenda at the Transit Room of the Presisi Building at South Sumatra Police Headquarters, on Thursday, 2 April 2026.

“We must always remember and instil that our customers, our boss is the community. We may feel internally that we have worked well, but ultimately, it is the community as our ‘boss’ who has the right to judge,” Sandi asserted firmly.

As a form of accountability to the ‘boss’, Sandi instructed his subordinates to discard any anti-criticism attitude far away. He specifically asked his ranks to proactively open spaces for discussion and invite various community elements to provide direct input to the South Sumatra Police.

“We will invite several community groups in rotation, starting from soft, medium, to hard ones. Even groups that have been fond of criticising the police will be specially invited. We are not anti-criticism. In fact, sharp input from them is a ‘mirror’ for us to continuously improve police governance in the field,” he said.

The Coffee Morning agenda, which started around 08.00 WIB, was opened with a technical presentation from the Head of Logistics Bureau (Karolog) of South Sumatra Police, Kombes Budi Santosa.

In front of the Police Chief and the PJUs, Kombes Budi comprehensively dissected the main duties and functions (tupoksi) of the Polri logistics sector, as well as the optimisation of asset use to support the smooth operations of members in the field.

All logistical readiness, facilities, and infrastructure were emphasised to ultimately serve one main goal: providing maximum and responsive services to the community.

Furthermore, the Police Chief asked the Directorate of Security Intelligence (Ditintelkam) to facilitate face-to-face meeting spaces between police and residents to realise this humane approach.

“If we have synergised and listened directly from the community as our ‘boss’, we can dampen various conflict potentials early. The hope is that when we need support in carrying out duties, the community already feels like part of the public order maintenance team together with Polri,” said Sandi.