Street or court justice

Is instant street justice, in which police officers shoot suspected criminals on the spot, justice at all? An increasing number of people seem to think so. The practice is on the rise in Jakarta, and most likely in other cities in Indonesia.

In many cases the suspected criminals died on the spot, meaning the streets replaced the courts in enforcing justice.

The body count is alarming. Jakarta's Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital's morgue has counted 32 people shot dead by the police since New Year. In comparison, the Jakarta Police said they shot dead 46 suspected criminals in the entire 1996. Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, is showing similar symptoms: 28 killed between January and March.

The issue of street justice became particularly delicate for the National Police this month when one of the victims, Sofjan Sani, turned out to be a second sergeant police officer. The two officers who shot Sofjan are under internal investigation, but their superiors say that standard procedures were followed: they fired in self defense, and warning shots were fired into the air.

Sofjan's parents, insisting on his innocence, have said they will sue the police for the killing. If it ever goes to court, the ruling will affect any future police practice of shooting suspected criminals. This is going to be a tough case for the court to rule on because the evidence is likely to be circumstantial. In a case where the hard evidence is the word of two officers, and against that a dead man's silence, could the court reach a fair verdict?

The National Police deny there is a standing order to shoot suspected criminals on the spot to suppress the increasing crime rate. The actions of officers in every shooting have been justified, they said. The police understandably need to protect their image. Even if an internal investigation found a procedural error, it would be unlikely that the result would be made public.

In any event, if the police appear to have taken a tougher stand it is because of the ever-growing crime rate in this country. Crimes have also become more violent; armed robberies certainly are becoming more common.

The National Police have the public behind them, at least according to an opinion poll published by Republika daily last week. Of the 500 Jakarta residents surveyed, 82 percent said they supported the practice of the police shooting suspected criminals. Only 16 percent said they were opposed to it.

The Republika poll, or any other future survey that comes to the same conclusion, however, should not be taken as a license to shoot criminals. The poll is more a reflection of the people's concern about rising crime rates, and their call for measures to deal with crimes more effectively.

Shooting suspected criminals is one way, but it has many shortcomings and negative consequences. And it is not necessarily effective. An officer in the field would have to act on the spur of the moment to fire at suspected criminals, with a great risk of shooting an innocent person.

If police are allowed to take the law onto their hands so easily, then it won't be long before citizens feel the right to do the same in the name of defending themselves. Criminals eventually won't be deterred, and they will resort to even more violence.

At best, shooting on sight is shock therapy. It can only be applied once, or for a limited period of time, to send the message to criminals that police can get tough. If the practice is applied continually, its deterrent effect will ebb and eventually disappear. Criminals will learn to deal with the new situation by getting even more violent. The end result therefore would be more violence, exactly the opposite of the original intention.

The problem of rising crime cannot be left to the police alone. This is a problem that the entire legal system, of which the police are only a part, must deal with. Laws are intended to prevent criminal acts and to protect people. If the crime rate is rising, then the laws and their enforcement should be reviewed. The laws may be too weak, or the courts may be too lenient in passing sentences on convicted criminals, or the police force may need beefing up, or a combination of all these things. Shooting suspected criminals alone won't stop the rising crime.