Police Map Congestion Spots Complained By Truck Drivers As Locations For Extortion

JAKARTA - The police have begun to map the points of congestion that container truck drivers have complained about. Because at the location of the traffic jam, the perpetrators of illegal levies (extortion) launched their actions.

"We are carrying out surveys and mapping the congestion points that truck drivers complain about. Especially around Cilincing, Marunda, and the Port area," said Director of Traffic for the Polda Metro Jaya Kombes Sambodo Purnomo Yogo to reporters, Friday, June 11.

This mapping, continued Sambodo, is the first step to address the complaints from container truck drivers. Later it will be discussed to find the best solution.

From the provisional results, it is most likely that the scheme that will be carried out is to mobilize members at these points or apply traffic engineering.

"Looking for solutions, both traffic engineering and the placement of members at these points," he said.

On the other hand, the congestion that occurs at the location that truck drivers complain about is due to the incompatibility of road capacity with vehicles. As a result, there is a build-up of vehicles which leads to traffic jams.

"The geometry of the deviation and the capacity of the road to the container depot are not proportional to the traffic volume of container trucks passing through," said Sambodo.

Previously reported, as many as 49 people who often do illegal levies (extortion) were arrested in the North Jakarta area. They were secured after a directive from the National Police Chief to follow up on President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi) orders.

Based on the data collection, the dozens of offenders were dealt with by the North Jakarta Metro Police and the Tanjung Priok Port Police. Most of them are employees of PT Greeting Fortune Container (GFC) and PT Dwipa Kharisma Mitra Jakarta.

In fact, this extortion practice has been going on for quite a long time. This is based on the truck drivers who give money without having to be asked by the perpetrators.