Tangerang crime increase seen

TANGERANG (JP): Jakarta Police Chief Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto asked the newly-installed precinct police chief of Tangerang yesterday to anticipate the possibility of a sharp increase of crime in the regency.

Hindarto made the remarks yesterday after inducting Lt. Col. Hari Setyabudhi, 43, in a ceremony at the Tangerang police headquarters. Hari replaces Lt. Col. Tjuk Sugiarso, 43, who has been promoted and transferred to the National Police Headquarters in Jakarta.

"Among significant types of crimes recorded in this area are the intercity crimes, land problems and environmental pollution," Hindarto said.

"Well prepared action is badly needed to face the rapid development of crime in this area," he said.

The one star general explained that the rapid development programs in Jakarta has attracted people from suburban areas to enter and earn money here. Their dreams become nightmares when they face a lack of job opportunities and find they cannot meet the high cost of living in the city, he said.

These people are then forced move to the outskirts and look for any possible means of making a living, which in turn leads them to commit crimes, such as robberies, he said.

He reiterated that the rapid progress in the economic and industrial sector has also boosted the number of other crimes, such as land fraud and pollution infringements.

"These crimes have to be well anticipated in a bid to help create comfortable surroundings for living and operating businesses," Hindarto said.

Tangerang, now home to some three million people, is located on 125,500 hectares of land to the west of Jakarta.

In the 1980s, Tangerang was popularly known as the hiding place for noted criminals. (bsr)