Indonesian National Police

History

When large parts of Indonesia was under Dutch colonial occupation until the 1940s, police duties were performed by either military establishments or colonial police known as the veldpolitie or the field police. Japanese occupation during WW II brought changes when the Japanese formed various armed organisations to support their war. This had led to the distribution of weapons to military trained youths, which were largely confiscated from the Dutch armoury.

After the Japanese occupation, the national police became an armed organisation. The Indonesian police was established in 1946, and its units fought in the Indonesian National Revolution against the invading Dutch forces. The police also participated in suppressing the 1948 communist revolt in Madiun. In 1966, the police was brought under the control of Armed Forces Chief, assuming the name Indonesian Police Force. Following the proclamation of independence, the police played a vital role when they actively supported the people’s movement to dismantle the Japanese army, and to strengthen the defence of the newly created Republic of Indonesia. The police were not combatants who were required to surrender their weapons to the Allied Forces. During the revolution of independence, the police gradually formed into what is now known as Kepolisian Negara Republik Indonesia (Polri) or the Indonesian National Police. In 2000, the police force officially regained its independence and now is separate from the military.

Duties and Tasks

The key tasks of the Indonesian National Police are to:

In carrying out these basic tasks, Police are to:

Organization

Polri is a centralised national bureaucracy. As a national agency it has a large central headquarters in Jakarta (Markas Besar Polri or Mabes Polri). The regional police organisation parallels exactly the hierarchy of the Indonesian civic administration, with provincial police commands (Polisi Daerah or Polda) to cover provinces, district commands (Polisi Resor or Polres) for districts, sub-district commands (Polsek) and community police officers or Polmas to service individual villages.

The Indonesian Police Force is not to be confused with the Municipal Police of Indonesia which is known in Indonesian as: "Satpol PP" which is the municipal police units operated by the Ministry of Home Affairs (Indonesia) mainly to enforce regional laws and regulations. Their uniform are slightly different with the Indonesian Police which is mainly all Khaki where in the other hand the Indonesian police force wear brownish grey and dark brown.

There are confusing terminological differences between some police commands. This derives from certain normative features of Indonesian governance. Indonesian political culture elevates the capital district (ibukota propinsi) of a province from other districts in the same province, though all have the same functional powers. Similarly, the capital province of the country (Jakarta), enjoys special normative status over other provinces – though in practice all have the same governmental responsibilities. The Indonesian police structure continues this by creating a special command for the province of Jakarta (Polda Metro Jaya), and special commands for capital city districts and cities (Polisi Kota Besar or Poltabes). Nevertheless, all of Indonesia’s police district commands (whether they are a Polres or Poltabes) and all the provincial commands (whether it is the flagship Polda Metro Jaya or one of the other Poldas) have the same powers and duties.

As an additional complication, super large provinces like East, West and Central Java have intermediary co-ordinating commands (Polisi Wilayah or Polwil) designed to enhance co-ordination between provincial commands and districts (to illustrate, Polda Jawa Barat in West Java has no less than 29 district commands – a major challenge for command and control). However Polri has a stated commitment to dismantle these Polwil in the near future.

Internal police culture is doctrinaire and hierarchical, and the organisation reflects this. The design and duties of Poldas and Polres are determined by central edict. Current standing orders determine that all provincial police are divided into three streams A1 (Polda Metro Jaya), B1 (demographically large provinces like East, Central and West Java) and B2 (smaller provinces like Yogyakarta, or West Kalimantan). The structure of these Poldas is more or less the same, with each possessing: a directorate of detectives, narcotics, traffic police, intelligence, specialist operational units (such as Brimob – the paramilitary police strikeforce, water police, and other units), as well as support detachments like the provosts, Binamitra (social relations police), etc. What truly differentiates Poldas is their resource base. Within Polri a tripartite matrix is applied to allocate personnel, money and equipment. This matrix is based upon a provinces’ square area, population size and reported crime rate. The same matrix is also applied to divide resources between Polres. Turning to examine the Polres, the Polres is in essence the backbone of the Indonesian police – it bridges the purely operational units (Polsek), with the higher planning/strategic elements of the structure (the Polda). In the Indonesian police a Polres is termed the Komando Satuan Dasar (or Basic Unit of Command); this means that a Polres has substantial autonomy to implement its own activities and mount its own operations. Regarding the structure of a Polres, a Polres is in effect a scaled down version of a Polda. Below is a cross-section of an average B1 level Polres (discreetly termed Polres A), in the province of Yogyakarta. This data derives from a recent PhD dissertation. Polres A has fourteen separate detachments. Seven of these detachments can be described as support elements. These support elements consist of: an Operations Planning Section, a Community Policing Section, an Administration Section (providing human resource management, training co-ordination, etc.), a Telecommunications detachment (providing communications support), a Unit P3D (provosts - or the police who police the police), a Police Service Centre (for co-ordinating requests from the public), a Medical Support Group and the Polres Secretariat. Based on 2007 data, these support areas were staffed by 139 personnel. The largest support unit was the Polres Service Centre, with fifty one police. These seven support elements back up the work of Polres A’s seven other operational units (or Opsnal in Polri terminology) as well as the nineteen sub-district police precincts in this particular district.

The Opsnal and sub-district commands execute Polri’s operational tasks. Polres A has one Traffic Police Unit, one Vital/Strategic Object Protection Unit, one Police Patrol Unit, one Narcotics Investigation Unit, one Detective Unit, a special tourist protection taskforce and a Police Intelligence Unit. These detachments have a combined strength of 487 personnel. The largest numbers are in the patrol unit (178) and the traffic unit (143). Added to the Opsnal personnel at the Polres headquarters are 1288 other police in nineteen sub-district Polseks. In 2007 this gave Polres a police-to-population ratio of around 1 police officer to 526 civilians.

The allocation of the budget in Polres A is also illuminating for determining where police priorities are. In 2007, Polres A had a planned budget of Rp.62.358 billion ($US 5,668,909). Of this Rp.56 billion or 90% was spent on wages and office expenses. Thus, as with most organisations, personnel costs absorb the lion’s share of resources. In terms of the operational budget some Rp.4 billion or 6% was spent on daily activities and special operations. The remaining 4% was divided between community policing, intelligence gathering and criminal investigation.

Corruption

In the eyes of the people, the National Police force is "corrupt, brutal, and inept". Even becoming a police officer can be expensive, with applicants having to pay up to Rp90 million, according to Indonesia Police Watch head, Neta Saputra Pane.

In April 2009, angry that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) had tapped his phone while investigating a corruption case, Indonesian Police chief detective Susno Duadji compared the KPK to a gecko (Indonesian: cicak) fighting a crocodile (Indonesian: buaya) meaning the police. Susno's comment, as it turned out, quickly backfired because the image of a cicak standing up to a buaya (similar to David and Goliath imagery) immediately had wide appeal in Indonesia. A noisy popular movement in support of the cicak quickly emerged. Students staged pro-cicak demonstrations, many newspapers ran cartoons with cicaks lining up against an ugly buaya, and numerous TV talk shows took up the cicak versus buaya topic with enthusiasm. As a result, references to cicaks fighting a buaya have become a well-known part of the political imagery of Indonesia.

In June 2010, the Indonesian news magazine Tempo published a report on "fat bank accounts" held by senior police officers containing billions of rupiah. When the magazine went on sale in the evening groups of men said by witnesses to be police officers, went to newsstands with piles of cash to try to buy all the copies before they could be sold.

When KPK investigators tried to search Polri headquarters in 2010 as part of an investigation into Djoko Susilo, then the head of Korlantas (police corps of traffic), they were detained, and only released following the intervention of the president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Following a trial, Djoko was jailed for 18 years. Two years later, the KPK began investigating another senior police officer, Budi Gunawan, who was subsequently nominated for the post of National Police Chief. The KPK then named Budi a suspect and his nomination was withdrawn. However, he was later sworn in as deputy police chief. The police subsequently took revenge by charging three KPK commissioners with criminal offenses.

In Bali, corrupt officers routinely extort bribes from tourists. In 2013 a YouTube appeared of a policemen demanding Rp200,000, which he then used to buy beer, which he drank with the tourist.

In 2014,Budi Gunawan,the National police chief assistant candidate was being investigated by the national corruption commission for about two days after they found out that his income shows something strange. Media believe that he was protected by some big people and many people disagree when he was chosen as the national police chief assistant.Until now,many books and murals described Budi Gunawan and the police for their corruption.

Violence and human rights abuses

Amnesty International has accused Polri of "widespread" torture and other abuses of arrested individuals. According to the organization, "Police in Indonesia shoot, beat and even kill people without fear of prosecution, leaving their victims with little hope of justice".

In 2014 the Human Rights Watch reported that a physical virginity test is routinely performed on female applicants to the police force. Human Rights Watch decried the practice as unscientific and degrading.

An official admission of violence by police officers came in 2016 when Chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti admitted that officers of the Detachment 88 anti-terror unit were responsible for the death in custody of terrorist suspect Siyono, who died of heart failure after being kicked hard enough in the chest to fracture his ribs. The Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights stated in March 2016 that at least 121 terror suspects had died in custody since 2007

Mobile Brigade Corps

The Mobile Brigade Police force of Indonesia (BRIMOB POLRI) or (BRIMOB) is the elite/special forces of the Indonesian National Police. Brimob is the paramilitary force of Indonesia and takes the duties for handling high-level threat of public secure also special police operations. This unit also becomes the back-up force for the riot control purposes. The personnel of this unit are identifiable with their dark blue berets.

The Mobile Brigade is also known as the special ‘anti-riot’ branch of the Indonesian National Police which deals with special operations. A paramilitary organization, its training and equipment is almost identical to the Indonesian Army’s ("TNI"), and it conventionally operates under joint military command in areas such as Papua and, until 2005, Aceh.

Gegana

GEGANA is an internal unit of the Brimob special Police corps who have special abilities in the field of anti-terrorism, bomb disposal, intelligence, anti-anarchist, and handling of Chemical, Biological, and Radio Active threats. Its main specialty are bomb disposal and explosives treatment during in urban settings.

Detachment 88

The Detachment 88 or Densus 88 is an Indonesian Police Special Forces squad specialty in the field of counter-terrorism. Their identities are usually kept secret, and usually operate with unmarked Toyota Kijang vehicles.

Police Units

There are several units within the National Police of Indonesia which is known as Kesatuan which are:

Sabhara

SABHARA (Samapta Bhayangkara) is the main public unit of the National Police of Indonesia that directly supervises the public order and public security. It is the most common police unit in the country which actively conducts patroling and community service. This unit becomes the first dispatch for standard law enforcement, policing activities and public matters affairs.

The "Sabhara" unit is also the first dispatched force for riot control before seeking back-up from the Brimob unit if the riot gets more violent. The personnel of this police unit are identifiable with their dark brown berets and usually are stationed in mostly police offices or police stations across Indonesia.

Traffic Police Corps

Website: http://lantas.polri.go.id

The Traffic Police of Indonesia (Indonesian: Polantas/Korlantas POLRI) is the traffic police law enforcement unit of the Indonesian National Police Force which have specialty in duty for directing, controlling, patrolling, and to take action in traffic situations in the streets, roads, and highway of the country. This unit also serves for the issuing of the Driving licence in Indonesia. They are very common in the streets and always take part in a traffic accident. In 2012, about 30 police officers were sent to the Netherlands national police to learn about the Traffic Accident Analysis or simply "TAA".

Maritime Police Force

Website: http://polair.polri.go.id/

The Indonesian Maritime Police Force (Indonesian: Polisi Perairan/POLAIR) is the water police force of Indonesia which guards and secures the sea and coast of Indonesia. This unit also takes action in illegal fishing activities and conducts law enforcement of fishermen and their boat's registrations in the naval territory of the republic.Their headquarters and training facility are in Kepulauan Seribu

Police Aviation (Air Police Force)

The Police Aviation of Indonesia (Indonesian: Polisi Udara) is a police unit in charge of conducting policing and law enforcement functions throughout and from the air territory of the Republic of Indonesia. It is in order to provide support (backup) for police operations to be observed from the air and to enable assistance for police duties such as ground support, search and rescue, and air patrol observations. The helicopter identifiable of this police unit is usually colored white and blue in Indonesia.

Tourism Police

The Tourism Police (Indonesian: Polisi Wisata) is a police unit for tourist services. They are sometimes identifiable with their unique Indonesian Police uniform with dark brown cowboy hats and short pants and usually conducts patrolling along the beaches of Indonesia especially in Bali.

Vital Object Protection

PAM OBVIT (Indonesian: unit Pengamanan Objek Vital) is an Indonesian police unit for vital protection and usually secures international embassies and consulate in Indonesia and VIP escort but sometimes, they protecting beaches, temples and churches in some case. Their vehicles are colored orange, same as the airport police car and usually parked outside of the embassies in Indonesia. The personnel of this unit wear additional Neckties and usually wear peaked cap for their uniform.

Sea Port Police

KPPP or KP3 (Indonesian: Kesatuan Pelaksanaan Pengamanan Pelabuhan) is an element of the Indonesian National Police which has the main task to assist the Port Administrator in organizing security at the Port area along the common discipline in the context of utilization and exploitation of the port.

Bareskrim

Bareskrim or RESKRIM (Indonesian: Badan Reserse Kriminal), lit; Criminal Investigation Agency, is an internal police unit of the Indonesian national police, its main duty is to investigate criminal activity and crime identification

Security Intelligence Agency

BAINTELKAM POLRI (Indonesian: Badan Intelijen dan Keamanan Polisi Republik Indonesia) is one of the main tasks of police executing agency in the field of intelligence.

PUSLABFOR

Puslabfor or simply LABFOR is the abbreviation of (Indonesian: Pusat Laboratorium dan Forensik) which is a unit for the agency and investigation in the field of forensics and laboratory purposes.

NCB Interpol

The International Criminal Police Organization also called ICPO-Interpol is a joint organization for the handling of cross-country crime. In 1954, Indonesia became a member of ICPO-Interpol and established the National Central Bureau (NCB) as a police agency to maintain cooperation between countries within the scope of ICPO-Interpol. In addition to the handling of transnational crimes, this unit maintains cooperation with foreign Police elements in the matter of criminal activity involving national and international links. The NCB Interpol are very important for the agency because many corrupt government officials are like to escape to another country especially Singapore. The NCB is headquartered at Jl. Trunojoyo no.3 Kebayoran baru near the national police headquarters and the ASEAN secretariat building

Polisi Satwa

Subdit-Satwa (Indonesian: Polisi Satwa) is an Indonesian Police unit in the specialization of wild-life and animal affairs. This unit provides K-9 dogs for police activity and investigation. This unit also deploys Mounted police for several occasions like riot control.

Directorate of Narcotics and Drugs

This police unit is known as (Indonesian: Direktorat Reserse Narkoba) is a police unit responsible for the handling and prosecution of illegal drugs and narcotics.

Div PROPAM

(Indonesian: Divisi Profesi dan Pengamanan Polisi) or is known as DIV PROPAM or PROVOS is the internal affairs of the Indonesian National Police. This police unit supervises and maintains discipline in the internal scope of the national police. Personnel of this unit are identifiable with their blue berets and wear dark blue brassard printed 'PROV'. Internal investigation of police personnel and officers are conducted by these officers and they also have strong authority within the Indonesian police scope. They act as "Provosts" in the Indonesian National Police just like Military police in the military.

Police Operational Centers

In the country, the police services in the community are made into several posts or office which represent a region:

Firearms

The standard issue sidearm to all Indonesian National Police officers is the Taurus Model 82 revolver in. 38 Special. While police personnel attached to special units such as Detachment 88, Gegana and BRIMOB are issued with the Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol.

Heavy arms are always available to Indonesian police personnel, such as the Heckler & Koch MP5 sub-machine gun, Remington 870 shotgun, Steyr AUG assault rifle, M4 carbine, M1 Carbine. and other weapons. The standard rifle for the Indonesian National Police are the Pindad SS1 and the M16 rifle. Units are also issued the "Sabhara"/Police V1-V2 Pindad SS1 special law enforcement assault rifle.

Police Fleets

The police vehicles that are usually operated by the Indonesian Police ("Polri") for patrol and law enforcement activities are mainly Ford Focus sedans, Mitsubishi Lancers, Hyundai Elantras (for some police regions), Mitsubishi Stradas, Isuzu D-Maxs, and Ford Rangers. Such vehicles are usually operated by the "Sabhara" police unit and other units which the vehicles are mainly colored dark-grey. In some areas, usually in rural places, the vehicles are not up-to date compared to the ones in the major urban areas in the country, so some police vehicles still use older versions such as the Toyota Kijang and Mitsubishi Freecas.
Special Investigation units usually operate in black Toyota Avanzas and some are unmarked vehicles. Police laboratory and forensics ("Puslabfor") units are issued dark-grey police Suzuki APV vehicles.

The Traffic Police Corps ("Korlantas") usually uses vehicles such as the Mazda 6, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, Toyota Vios, Ford Focus sedans, Hyundai Elantra and Ford Rangers colored white and blue. Some vehicles for traffic patrol are also used such as the Toyota Rush and Daihatsu Terios. Sedan types are usually used for highway and road patrolling and escort. Double-Cab types are usually used for Traffic incidents and traffic management law enforcement activities.

Police vehicles colored orange usually Ford Focus and Mitsubishi Lancer sedans and white-orange Chevrolet Captivas are operated by the Vital Object Protection unit ("Pam Obvit") and usually parked outside and operated for international embassies, airports, and other special specified locations. It is also used by the Tourist police for patrol.

For the special police, counter-terrorism and anti-riot units such as the Mobile Brigade or "Brimob", Detachment 88 and "Gegana" units usually use special costumed vehicles for special operations such as the Pindad Komodo, Barracuda APC, and modified armored Mitsubishi Stradas, 2002 Nissan Terrano Spirits' and other special double-cabin and SUV vehicle types. Vehicles are colored dark-grey with the bumper colored orange identifying vehicles of the special police units. Some special operational "Gegana" and "Densus 88" vehicles are colored black also with orange bumpers.

Other customized vehicles used for mobilization of police personnel are usually modified Isuzu Elfs and Toyota Dynas with horizontal side sitting facilities inside of the trunk covered by dark colored canvas for canopy. Costumed patrol pick-ups with mounted sitting facilities on the trunk covered with canopy are also operated by the police to carry police personnel during patrol, the pick-ups are usually Isuzu Panther pick-ups and usually operate in rural areas.

For high-ranking officers (usually generals), issued cars are usually grey (some black) full to compact sedans and Mid to Full-sized SUVs. Such cars are mainly chauffeured Toyota Camrys, Hyundai Sonatas, Toyota Land Cruisers, and Toyota Prados. Some use black Toyota Innovas.

Ranks

In the early years, the Indonesian Police used European police style ranks like "inspector" and "commissioner". When the police were amalgamated with the military structure during the 1960s, the ranks changed to a military style such as "Captain", "Major" and "Colonel". In the year 2000, when the Indonesian Police conducted the transition to a fully independent force out of the armed forces in 2000, they used British style police ranks like "Inspector" and "Superintendent". Now, The Indonesian Police have returned to Dutch style ranks like "Brigadier" and "Agents" just like in the early years with some Indonesianized elements within the ranking system.

Uniform

The National Police Force of Indonesia had changes for uniform colours about 3 times, the periods are:

In the Indonesian Armed Forces and Police, there are three types of uniform worn by service personnel. there are Ceremonial uniform, service uniform, and field uniform.

List of Chiefs of Police (Kapolri)

1. General R Said Soekanto Tjokrodiatmodjo (29 Sep 1945 – 14 December 1959)
2. General Soekarno Djojonegoro (15 December 1959 – 29 December 1963)
3. General Soetjipto Danoekoesoemo (30 December 1963 – 8 May 1965)
4. General Soetjipto Joedodihardjo (9 May 1965 – 8 May 1968)
5. General Hoegeng Iman Santoso (9 May 1968 – 2 October 1971)
6. General Moch. Hasan (3 October 1971 – 1974)
7. General Widodo Budidharmo (1974 – 25 September 1978)
8. General Awaluddin Djamin (26 September 1978 – 1982)
9. General Anton Soedjarwo (1982 – 1986)
10. General Mochammad Sanoesi (1986 – 19 February 1991)
11. General Kunarto (20 February 1991 – April 1993)
12. General Banurusman Astrosemitro (April 1993 – March 1996)
13. General Dibyo Widodo (March 1996 – 28 June 1998)
14. General Roesmanhadi (29 June 1998 – 3 January 2000)
15. General Roesdihardjo (4 January 2000 – 22 September 2000)
16. General Suroyo Bimantoro (23 September 2000 – 28 November 2001)
17. General Da'i Bachtiar (29 November 2001 – 7 July 2005)
18. General Sutanto (8 July 2005 – 30 September 2008)
19. General Bambang Hendarso Danuri (30 September 2008 – October 2010)
20. General Timur Pradopo (October 2010 – 25 October 2013)
21. General Sutarman (25 October 2013 – 16 January 2015)
22. General Badrodin Haiti (17 April 2015 – 13 July 2016)
23. General Tito Karnavian (13 July 2016 — present)