IPW: Police Successfully Secure Christmas And New Year 2024 Celebrations

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Chairman of Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) Sugeng Teguh Santoso assessed that the National Police managed to secure the 2024 Christmas and New Year celebrations in Indonesia so that in general it was safe and peaceful.

"IPW highlighted that the security of Nataru by the Police was successful because there were no significant security disturbances, especially disturbances in worship," Sugeng said in his statement, quoted from Antara, Saturday, January 6.

According to him, this success cannot be separated from the efforts and capabilities of the police in mitigating the potential for security disturbances in the country.

He mentioned a number of efforts made by the National Police in keeping the 2024 Christmas and New Year celebrations safe and peaceful.

The first effort, namely sweeping by Densus 88 anti-terror which was carried out long before entering December, as well as the intensity of arresting a number of suspected terrorists throughout Indonesia.

"All of them have been combed, in Central Java and other areas have been detected by the Police that the group arrested has the potential to carry out security disturbances, perhaps physical attacks on places of worship," he said.

Another effort, he said, was to pick up the ball by the leadership of the National Police by going directly to places of worship to ensure that the celebration took place safely.

"There was an order to go directly to places of worship, greet, coordinate with the regional security apparatus. The intelligence is going well," he said.

In addition to successfully maintaining Christmas celebrations, he also assessed that the decline in traffic accidents during Christmas and New Year's 2024 could not be separated from the role of the Police.

In his view, good coordination between the National Police and relevant stakeholders is the key to the success of the 2023 Candle Operation, coupled with the increasingly modern police equipment, so as to prevent disturbances.

"Based on data from the National Police in Nataru 2023/2024, precisely from December 22, 2023 to January 2, 2024, there was a decrease in traffic accidents by 12 percent with a total of 3,412 incidents," he said.