Gold Shop Robbery In West Jakarta Is A Signal Of Police Carelessness During The Pandemic

JAKARTA - The National Police claims that the number of street crimes or street crime has decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it does not mean that crime is lost one hundred percent. Because, recently, there was a robbery of gold shops in the capital city.

The gang of robbers, who allegedly consisted of four members, was running at a gold shop in Pasar Kemiri, West Jakarta. They managed to steal 10 kilograms of silver and 0.5 kilograms of gold.

Head of Public Relations of Polda Metro Jaya Kombes Yusri Yunus said the perpetrators took action with firearms to frighten the victims. Luckily, there were no fatalities in the crime.

"The perpetrator was only pointing a silver revolver," said Yusri, Tuesday, April 7.

In this robbery action, four perpetrators were known to have had their respective roles. Two of them are in charge of supervising the surrounding situation by staying on the motorbike right in front of the gold shop. Meanwhile, the rest served as executors.

Even though the perpetrators managed to take away the jewelery which was estimated at Rp400 million, Yursi continued, investigators had identified their identities based on the vehicle used.

However, to be sure, some of the investigating team is still collecting evidence and clues relating to their identity. Meanwhile, the other team is on a chase based on bagged clues.

"Investigators from the Polres and Polda are still teaching the perpetrators," said Yusri.

Take advantage of police negligence

University of Indonesia criminologist Ferdinand Andi Lolo said that the actions of these perpetrators took advantage of the negligence of the police officers who were focused on COVID-19. Moreover, activities in the open are even less and are considered beneficial for criminals.

"The perpetrators of the crime did take advantage of the momentum and reduced vigilance due to the concentration of the public and the authorities being slightly diverted to handling the outbreak," said Ferdinand.

Apart from that, the minimum number of police officers is another factor. So, this also seems to provide an opportunity for the perpetrators to act because of the lack of supervision.

For this reason, with the emergence of this robbery case, it is hoped that the public will comply with all regulations related to the prevention of COVID-19. So, later the Police can ensure conditions throughout the archipelago are safe from crime.

"However, it must be remembered that police human resources are limited. Meanwhile, the scale of this outbreak is so large, therefore the community needs to be more active in reducing the outbreak (by staying at home). So that police human resources do not need to be drained for things that the community should obey," said Ferdinand. .