Views of Greater Jakarta police chiefs
The following are comments from all of the chiefs of police precincts in the greater Jakarta area about major crimes occurring in their respective areas of supervision in 1994, along with predictions of the problems they expect to face in the coming year. Text and photos by K. Basrie.
Lt. Col. EDI DARNADI (North Jakarta police chief) "In 1994, aggravated assault still ranks among the top crimes in this area, with at least two people dying per week. This is mainly caused by the psychological makeup and limited educations of the many unemployed people in this own community. We have started to directly approach them and this work will be further intensified in 1995 in order to reduce the number of assaults."
Lt. Col. MIYANTO (East Jakarta police chief) "Breaking and entering, armed robbery, aggravated assault and vehicle theft are the four major crimes in this area. Most of the first three were committed by people armed with weapons or under the influence of alcohol. It's quite hard for us to deal with these people because East Jakarta is an urban, border area, which is home to many beggars and unemployed migrants. Vehicle theft is quite difficult to deal with because the suspects can disappear from the scene in as little as five minutes. They then shift the engines from the stolen vehicles into other car bodies, or change the license plate numbers and counterfeit vehicle documents. We have tried our best to cooperate with the public to fight against all type of criminals and the effort will be intensified in 1995."
Lt. Col. SILVANUS YULIAN WENAS (South Jakarta police chief) "Student brawls here have taken too much of the police force's energy and time this year. It is easy work to pick up those involved, but getting them through court is difficult as our criminal codes still do not provide the law with enough teeth to teach them a lesson. Along with the military, we are going to start enforcing a number of rules in 1995. Among these regulations is one which requires that the schools of any students who start fights be closed for at least three months."
Lt. Col. MANGKU MADE PASTIKA (West Jakarta police chief) "Breaking and entering, armed robbery, vehicle theft and aggravated assault were still the four major crimes here this year. I think that these four crimes will still dominate in 1995. The main difficulty we're facing here is how to probe vehicle theft syndicates as the suspects leave no clues at the scenes of the crimes and, in many cases, they tear down the stolen cars and sell the parts so they don't have to deal with documents. And, the significant number of aggravated assaults recorded here is mainly due to the stress and depression suffered by the people due to the chronic traffic jams in many streets in West Jakarta."
Lt. Col. MURAWI EFFENDI (Central Jakarta police chief) "Everybody knows that this area has been prone to demonstrations and student brawls this year. Such incidents might also dominate the crime scene here in 1995, but we are trying hard to cooperate with related institutions to help reduce the frequency of these two kinds of disturbances. But, I know that it's not a simple task."
Lt. Col. HARY SETYABUDHI (Tangerang police chief) "As in 1993, theft with force still heads up the crimes here this year and, perhaps, also in 1995. The thefts, mostly burglaries, are mostly due to the location of Tangerang on the outskirts of Jakarta. We are intensifying the number of patrolmen and encouraging the local residents to hold civil night patrols (siskamling) to anticipate an increasing number of thefts throughout this area."
Lt. Col. HARI PRIBADI (Bekasi police chief) "Today, Bekasi is already crowded with real estate complexes which have played a significant role in stimulating crooks to commit crimes. Moreover, local residents, with abundant amounts of money on hand after selling their land and homes, never put their cash in banks. So, this stimulates thieves to commit crimes. I think that the rapid growth of housing complexes here might also lead to a significant increase in crimes and heavy traffic jams in 1995. We are still inviting public support to help reduce the number of crimes here."
Lt. Col. SISNO ADIWINOTO (Depok police chief) "Besides the significant number of common crimes, such as breaking and entering, armed robbery and vehicle theft, the main problem facing us in this area is the increasing number of people falling to their deaths from trains speeding through the area. This year the number tripled to 22 people, mostly students, from eight last year. It's high time for all parties concerned to pay greater attention to this problem to limit the number of victims."