Don't Wait For It To Go Viral, A Special Hotline For Complaints Police Officers Should Be Realizable

Police illustration (Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The proposal of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, for the National Police to make a special hotline to people who want to complain about the abuse of authority by police officers, is considered good for the improvement of the law enforcement institution.

"If we look at social media, people have dared to video the naughty police action, and that's good. Now it's just a matter of how the action from the wider community is given a special channel so that official reporting can be done and quickly handled by the Police," said Political Communications Expert Silvanus Alvin, Tuesday, October 18.

According to the lecturer at the Faculty of Communication, Universitas Multimedia Nusantara (UMN), public courage in documenting the abuse of authority of police officers needs to be welcomed by the National Police through special communication channels.

"So if there is a special hotline, you don't have to wait for the viral to be handled by the police. With a special hotline, the behavior of the slightest naughty police officers can be immediately followed up by the Police," said Alvin.

"So Puan's proposal is good to be followed up by the Police, who are currently at the nadir point in obtaining the trust of the wider community," he continued.

Alvin assessed that Puan's proposal in making this special hotline was a form of her responsibility as a DPR RI leader who often received complaints and input from the wider community regarding the actions of naughty police officers in the field.

"So when Puan spoke quite loudly when a two-star general was caught for drugs, and proposed that a special hotline be made, it indicated that the DPR's supervisory function was going well," said Alvin.

"Puan has proposed a concrete policy for the National Police so that the police chief's clean-up action is not only on paper, but is felt at the lowest level of society," added the graduate of the British University of Leicester master.

Previously, Puan asked the Police to improve themselves following a drug case that allegedly involved her high-ranking officials. He reminded drugs not to damage institutions that should protect the public from these extraordinary crimes.

"The case that is currently happening must be a moment of cleaning up the Police from individuals who abuse narcotics. There should be no drug mafia in our police force," said Puan, Friday, October 14 yesterday.

Puan also asked the Police to open themselves up if there was information about drug cases.

"If necessary, the National Police will open a hotline that can be accessed by the public to report all drug cases, including those involving police officers," said Puan.