Troops deployed to help secure crime black spots
JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Military Command began the deployment of 500 of its soldiers to patrol 31 crime black spots in the capital on Sunday to help the city police fight the escalating trend in street crimes.
The command's spokesman, Lt. Col. D.J. Nachrowi, told reporters that the troops would tour the black spots in the city's five mayoralties 24 hours a day in trucks bearing PHH Kodam Jaya (Jakarta Military Command's Riot Unit) signs.
"The deployment of the soldiers will be done as long as the community needs it," Nachrowi said after attending a ceremony for the call to readiness at the command's headquarters in East Jakarta.
Armed with shotguns, the deployed soldiers are from the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Nachrowi said that the troops, who are included in the City's Security Network, are allowed to take stern actions against any criminals or rioters in order to end lawlessness.
"The troops can shoot criminals who ignore warning shots and continue with their criminal activities. But they will shoot to disable them," he said, adding that the troops were ordered to use only blanks and rubber bullets.
The troop deployment is led by City Military Police chief Col. Hendardji S., assisted by Lt. Col. Agus Suharto, commander of the 7th Cavalry Battalion in East Jakarta.
After the ceremony, one soldier showed reporters that he was only carrying blanks and rubber bullets for his Steyr SS-1 shotgun.
"We check the magazines every day during the morning call," Hendardji remarked.
Tongam Tambunan, a senior executive of the city's public order office, said last Thursday that the number of crime black spots in the city had doubled from 31 in July to 60 last month, the result of a growing sense of desperation among the segment of the city's population that is living below the poverty line.
Because the city is faced with a shortage of security personnel, the troops were deployed to safeguard only 31 crime black spots around the city.
The city police detectives unit has also dispatched a team of 240 personnel, including plainclothes officers, to patrol various black spots in the city, such as densely-populated and crime- prone areas.
The unit's head, Col. Gories Mere, said that the police operation was aimed at extortionists, pickpockets and robbers.
Nachrowi said that apart from the soldiers deployed in the trucks, the Jakarta Military Command also dispatched motorcycle patrol units of two soldiers each.
"They can reach the locations unreachable by trucks. They (the motorcycle units) are stationed in each military district," he said.
Temporary move
Meanwhile, a criminologist and sociologist commented that the deployment of security personnel to beat the escalating street crime at each of the crime black spots was unavoidable, but it should be a temporary move until the situation returns to normal.
Contacted separately by The Jakarta Post on Sunday, Purnianti, a criminologist, and Paulus Wirutomo, a sociologist, both from the University of Indonesia, said that even though the deployment was uncomfortable for most people, it was necessary to bring the city under control.
"For the time being, because crimes are uncontrollable, such a deployment is the best choice, even though it won't solve the problem," Paulus said.
He said that the escalation in criminal activity could only be stopped if the authorities could end the prolonged economic crisis, which he says is the root of the escalation in crimes.
He also said that the deployment should be temporary, as seeing security officers throughout the city was acceptable only under abnormal conditions.
Paulus also said that the deployed officers should wear their uniforms "as a kind of a show of force that they are still strong, to frighten people from committing wrongdoings."
Both Paulus and Purnianti agree that this deployment was necessary with the current chaotic environment.
As an example, they said that the Philippines government took the same effort to handle a chaotic situation after the late president Ferdinand Marcos resigned in February, 1986.
Months afterwards, public places like supermarkets and shopping complexes were guarded by armed personnel, and everybody entering or leaving the areas were checked.
Purnianti said, however, that the personnel's deployment was a dilemma because it was needed, but on the other hand it caused an uncomfortable atmosphere for the majority of people, because it made it seem that the country was in a state of war.
Other kinds of strategies are needed, such as the activation of regular patrols and raids to help return the city's security, she said.
"It is time for the authorities to show that they are capable of handling the chaotic situation," she said.
She also said that there should be a system of giving rewards to areas which maintain their security, like what was implemented for areas which successfully maintained their sanitary conditions.
"Local authorities, like mayoralty administrations, should be encouraged to improve the security system, and the system of rewards is one of the alternatives," she said. (ivy/ind)