TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The police will take strict measures against health protocols violators in a bid to cut the COVID-19 transmission chain, stated Deputy Police Chief Comm.Gen Gatot Eddy Pramono.

Gatot said in a statement on Sunday, the police has conducted an operation to uphold the pubic discipline to implement the health protocols.

However, further legal measures based on the law would be taken if the operation has not run effectively.

"If sanctions imposed in the operation such as fine, social work, administrative sanction, license revocation, have yet to optimally reduce (health protocols violation), we will take stringent measures based on the law (UU)," Gatot said.

According to Gatot, the police has coordinated with the government regarding the issue. "The Police Chief has reported this to the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, to enforce the law and uphold public discipline."

In its first step, Gatot said, the police would uphold the discipline based on regional regulations (Perda).

"People's continued negligence in implementing health protocols despite our warnings will lead to the imposition of further legal measures. We understand the principle of ultimum remedium in applying this measure, Hopefully, it can help curb the COVID-19 spreading," he said.

Gatot mentioned some articles in the criminal codes that could be used to take measures against the health protocol violators among others article 212, 216, and 218 as well as law on health quarantine and law on disease outbreak.

The police has also continued to encourage community to uphold the discipline in implementing health protocols among the community members, to avoid the emergence of new clusters from offices or markets.

"We will conduct massive efforts to build collective awareness through communities, where its leaders will set an example to members in the discipline (to apply health protocols) to avoid COVID-19 transmission," he said.

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