Unreliable police data causes failures in fighting crime

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Observers revealed that a wide discrepancy between crime reported to the police and reality on the ground could wreck police attempts to crack down on crime.

Both criminologist of the University of Indonesia Mulyana W. Kusumah and chairman of the police watchdog, Police Watch, Adnan Pandupraja highlighted the importance of data on which to draw up a strategy to combat crime.

"The high level of unreported crime can mislead police when determining strategies to clamp down on crime," Mulyana told The Jakarta Post last Saturday.

Mulyana revealed that many police operations could miss their target or at the very least be ineffective should police simply rely upon those reports in their policy making.

Mulyana attributed the ineffectiveness to the police's failure to take action in accordance with actual crime, currently widespread.

Greater accuracy in information gathering by the police in their reports, Mulyana said, was essential and should involve cross-checking and updating.

As an example, Mulyana cited the difference in the number of deaths through crime, according to the police and the morgues.

"Improvements in police reporting would ease legal proceedings considerably when a case is taken to court," Mulyana said.

Mulyana contended that unreported crime was higher in the case of lesser offenses than serious crime.

"Most victims of lesser crime are reluctant to report the incidents in order to avoid an even greater subsequent inconvenience, rather than thinking that the incidents were of no consequence," Mulyana said.

Meanwhile, Gregorius Constan, whose belongings were stolen by thieves last month, admitted that he was reluctant to report his loss to the police, to avoid further trouble.

Gregorius' losses included jewelry and cash kept in a cupboard.

"Calling the police would have spelled further trouble. At the very least, I would have had to give them 'cigarette money' before they commenced their 'investigation'," Gregorius said.

Most investigations, he said, were unsuccessful in arresting suspects and taking them to court.

Adnan revealed that many crime victims did not report incidents due to their lack of confidence in the police's response and their poor performance.

"The public is disappointed in the police, who do not take immediate action upon receiving reports," Adnan said.

According to Adnan, the level of unreported crime could be twice that of reported offenses.

Incidents in which people administered "street justice" by beating and setting light to suspected criminals, Adnan said, reflected the public's disappointment in law enforcers' ability to uphold the law.

Adnan remarked that the police should be more active in collecting and verifying crime data from the public.

Meanwhile, city police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam said that unreported incidents would not influence the police that much in identifying their priorities for combating crime.

"We have prioritized some cases based on many considerations, including collected data and other information from the police intelligence division," Anton said.

Anton revealed that personnel constraints had also prevented the police from collecting more accurate data.

Jakarta has a total of 21,000 police personnel spread across the city, which has a resident population of 8.3 million. Of that total, many officers perform administrative tasks. Those figures fall short of the ideal, namely one officer per 400 residents.