Jakarta crime rate falls slightly in 2010

[News_Editor]

Jakarta crime rate falls slightly in 2010

2010-12-29 07:43:16 GMT+7 (ICT)

JAKARTA, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) -- Jakarta Police Chief Sutarman on Tuesday said that the crime rate in the capital this year fell by about 2,000 cases in comparison with 2009, the Jakarta Globe reported.

Sutarman added that this year 55,006 crimes were perpetrated in contrast with the 57,038 registered in 2009. However, the Police chief remarked that the seriousness of assault cases and the number of homicides rose in 2010.

Further, Jakarta Police managed to solve more criminal cases than in the previous years. In 2010, 30,401 cases were solved up from the previous 29,334 in 2009. Out of every 100,000 Jakarta citizens, 248 individuals were charged with a criminal offense, a slight decrease from the 257 in 2009.

The most common crimes in Jakarta were murder, rape, aggravated assault, extortion, arson, drug trafficking, vehicle theft, gambling, theft with assault, ordinary theft and juvenile delinquency. The alarming statistic is the increment of murder cases this year as 89 crimes of this nature were committed in contrast with 79 the year before.

Sutarman remarked that the efficiency of his department also improved as 67 of the 89 murder cases have been solved so far. However, out of the 1,835 assault offenses perpetrated, several key cases remain unsolved.

The police chief blamed the ongoing reforms within the police force as one of the reasons of such problems as well as the bad publicity stemming from each time a member of the police corps commit's a crime which diminishes public trust and thus makes police work more difficult.

"The bureaucratic reforms aren't yielding optimal results yet, so we're still hitting obstacles in terms of human resource management and facilities," Sutarman said, as cited by the Jakarta Globe.

One of the unsolved assault cases is the bomb attack on Tempo magazine's editorial office which happened on July 6. The attack is believed to have been connected to the magazine's cover story of that month which covered suspicious large bank accounts of several police generals.

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