Guessing The Motive For The Destruction Of The Police Post In Jakarta

Illustrations (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Tugu Tani Police Post (Pospol), Central Jakarta, was damaged by an unknown person. The destruction was done by throwing stones at the postal glass windows. The incident allegedly took place in the early hours of the morning, when there was minimal supervision.

Based on the investigation, Menteng Police Chief AKBP Guntur Muhammad Tariq said the damage to the police post was only discovered at around 06.00 WIB, after the new members arrived at the scene.

"The witness (who is being questioned) is a police post officer, a traffic member who is currently being questioned," said Guntur, Wednesday, February 26.

Evidence in the form of broken glass and stones around the location was confiscated by the police for investigation. Meanwhile, the CCTV camera footage around the location has not been obtained by the police. Therefore, for the time being, Guntur suspected that the perpetrator was a prankster.

"It could be possible that he (the perpetrator) walked on, then he looked blank or there were children who were fad, we also don't know. So, from the results of checking the existing CCTV, he can only answer (the perpetrator)," said Guntur.

This is not the first time this has happened. Around September 2017, a similar case occurred at the Sub-Sector Police on Jalan Ahmad Yani, Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta. Based on the investigation, the vandalism was carried out by about 20 people on motorbikes.

In fact, the perpetrators dropped a parked vehicle in the yard of the police post and also threw Molotov cocktails. Luckily, there were no casualties because officers were able to avoid and extinguish the fire.

Furthermore, the destruction of police posts also occurred during a demonstration against a number of Controversial Bills (RUU) in front of the DPR-MPR building of the Republic of Indonesia, Central Jakarta, Tuesday, September 24, 2019.

It was recorded that four police posts were damaged by throwing stones and burning them, namely, the Slipi police post, the Palmerah police post, and the Senayan police post near Hotel Mulia, and one police post under the Lagogi Senayan bridge was damaged.

Criminologist at the University of Indonesia, Ferdinand Andi Lolo, said that one of the reasons for the many vandalism of police posts was dissatisfaction with the police. So, they are determined to take this action as a form of resistance.

This feeling of dissatisfaction can be based on many things. Among these are the perpetrators who feel they have not received justice, or because their rights have been violated.

"Places such as police stations are symbols. Damaging symbols is an expression of dissatisfaction or resistance to the authority represented by the symbol," said Ferdinand, adding that the perpetrators of the usual vandalism took advantage of the lack of supervision to minimize being caught.

"However, we have to find the culprit first and then dig up the background of the action, then we can ascertain the motive, whether it is due to anger or just a whim," said Ferdinand.

Meanwhile, Commissioner for the National Police Commission (Kompolnas) Andrea Poeloengan said, Pospol may be the target of anger, it could be because the perpetrator is a person with mental disorders or so on.

But he believes that the motive for the perpetrators of the destruction could be discovered when the police arrested him. It is best not to be guesswork and associated with hatred of the police. What is clear, this incident is a criminal act and must be disclosed immediately, "said Andrea.

However, Andrea actually questioned the officers' whereabouts so that they could be missed and the police posts were targeted.

"If even a police post in the public can be pelted with, my question is, where is the Patrol? What about the security of other assets and the community, if the assets themselves can be damaged by the OTK?" the lid.