TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Police observer, Bambang Widodo Umar said Jakarta is already in a state of police emergency, following a string of shooting incidents involving police officers.
"This is serious. Now, children and wife of police officers are getting worried every day. This is not okay," said Bambang in a discussion in Cikini yesterday.
He said the police must evaluate the self-security system that has been implemented so far and that the police need assistance to find the shooters, who are allegedly professional and trained.
"They (the shooters) use city guerilla strategy. No one other than the intelligence and police are good at this strategy," Bambang said.
To respond this crisis, he said, the police must ask for assistance to the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) while the cases are being investigated. The TNI reportedly has competent forces and intelligence in the city guerilla and chasing strategy.
Bambang said the request for assistance should not be seen as the 'comeback' of TNI to the society. In fact, the request is very specific and only in certain periods since the police are already in the state of emergency.
"It's time to ask for assistance, although it's only for temporary. Leaders in the police department do not seem to care much about the fate of those police officers on the field," the observer said.
However, this plan was met with flat refusal from Chairman of the Legal Commission of the House of Representatives, Gede Pasek Suardika, who thinks the police are still able to handle the shooting cases. According to him, the police have adequate ability and means to disclose the cases and arrest the perpetrators.
"There's no need to ask for TNI's assistance. What will the they do? If it is only to arrest them, the police have Densus 88," Pasek said.
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