1,018 Joint Personnel Deployed During The 2022 Candi Candle Operation In Surakarta, Sterilization Of Churches To Parking Will Be Regulated

Surakarta Police Chief Kombes Iwan Saktiadi (left) together with Dandim 0735 Surakarta Lt. Col. Inf. Devy Kristiono (rightmost) while accompanying Deputy Mayor Teguh Prakosa/ANTARA

SOLO - Surakarta City Police, Central Java, has prepared 1,018 joint personnel to secure Christmas celebrations and welcome New Year's Eve 2023 through the 2022 Candi Candle Operation. On the sidelines of checking Christmas preparations at the Catholic Church of Santo Antonius Purbayan Surakarta, Surakarta Police Chief Kombes Iwan Saktiadi explained that the team deployed was a joint team of the TNI, Polri, and Solo City Government. "We will carry out security starting to sterilize the church. So, the stages of security before mass start sterilizing the church," said Iwan Saktiadi, quoted from Antara, Tuesday, December 20. The police chief said that the 2022 Candi Candle operation will start from December 23 to January 2, 2023. On Friday, his party will deploy the 2022 Christmas and 2023 New Year safety troops. Currently, his party together with the Deputy Mayor of Surakarta Teguh Prakosa and Dandim 0735 Surakarta Lt. Col. Inf. Devy Kristiono check the preparations for churches with more than 2,000 congregations. He mentioned the Catholic Church of Santo Antonius Purbayan Surakarta, where the number of congregants reached 3,000 people. "The oil on December 24 is our concern. First, the issue of security and parking for the congregation," said Iwan Saktiadi. Because the Purbayan Church is directly dealing with the highway, his party must prepare well so that other people are not disturbed and the congregation carrying vehicles is also well facilitated. For church security, he said, it would be divided by classification according to the number of congregations. There are priority churches one, two, and three according to the number of congregations and the number of activities in places of worship. In addition, the number of personnel stationed also has different strengths. For example, priority one church can be guarded by joint officers of 20 to 24 personnel, and priority two there are 16 personnel by looking at the priority of the church. The joint team, he continued, includes members of the TNI, Polri, Satpol PP, and several stakeholders who are competent to maintain priority one and second priority churches. Meanwhile, security for priority three churches, which are located indirectly on the highway, can be monitored through patrols. Because the number of congregants is small and mass services are only once, meaning that they can be visited by patrol activities. It was also stated that there were 16 churches in Surakarta, one priority, two priority, 22 churches, and the remaining priority three out of a total of 243 churches.