Crowds Criticized of Shoot in Place Commands for Drug Dealers

JAKARTA - The shooting dead in the place by police against drug dealers has drawn much criticism. A number of parties stated that they did not question the firing of the area during the time of the danger to the life of police personnel or others. Fact in the field, police often shoot drug dealers for reasons of escape. There are even for no apparent reason.

As disclosed Edo Agustian, National Coordinator of Indonesian Drugs User Network (PKNI), he became a victim of shootings by police in dozens of years ago for no apparent reason.

"I was arrested, my eyes closed, taken to a place. Then my foot was shot until my leg bone crushed. There is no resistance from me. I heard that they were ordered to shoot me," revealed Edo in Jakarta, Wednesday (20/9).

Edo said, shooting without regard to the procedures of the use of violence and firearms will actually make the image of the police weaker in the eyes of society.

"The police as a symbol of living law should be the front guard for humanistic law enforcement, rather than being a symbol of brutality," he said.

PKNI also criticized the shooting in place that is not appropriate procedures by the police in the operation of arrest suspected drug dealers.

While attending the "Ombudsman Hearing" invitation with other civil society organizations such as LBHM, HRWG, Amnesty International Indonesia and ICJR on Tuesday (19/9) at the Ombudsman's Office, PKNI submitted the collected data related to this action. From the data collected, there are 15 shootings in places that have died in some parts of Indonesia since August 2016.

The term shoot in place appears in Law No. 2/2002 on the Police as an act that is imposed on a suspect in order to protect human life and should only be enforced as the final act if another crackdown can not be done again. The procedure for using firearms has been set in the Basic Principles on the Use of Violence and Firearms by Law Enforcement Apparatus passed in the 8th UN Congress in 1990 in Havana.

"The shooting is a police action that should only be taken based on the discretion of police officers in the field if the actions of the person to be arrested are endangering lives of the police officers themselves or others," said PKNI Law Advocate, Alfiana Qisthi.

Polri said that the increasing number of drug traffickers was killed by shoot in place in 2017 up to four times compared to the previous year, influenced by the assessment of police officers. If the hazard is indicated, the police will take action against the perpetrator.

"In the framework of the public interest, to save the life of the officer and the person protected," said Deputy Inspectorate of General Supervision National Police, Inspector General Ketut Untung Yoga Ana at Ombudsman RI Office, Jakarta, Tuesday (19/9).

He asserted, police action has been in accordance with the Regulation of the Chief of Police (Perkap) No 01. There is a measurement process that is measured before the police firing at the suspect's drug scene.

"To ensure that skilled officers use weapons, we have training, so the program remains at police," Yoga explained.

If an element of violation is found in the act of prosecution of a drug suspect, Yoga guarantees the institution will conduct an investigation. Police are open to omission reports by fieldworkers.

Responding to this, Alfiana said: "So if the shooting in this place is done on the basis of orders from superiors, this clearly deviates the meaning of discretion. The Chief of Police even the President should not be able to order this shooting," she said.

At the same place, Amnesty International Indonesia (AII) researcher, Bramantya Basuki suspects there is a correlation between President Joko Widodo's statement about the war on drugs and the rising number of deadly shoot cases on the spot against drug dealers.

"We suspect there is a correlation in that," said Basuki at the Office of the Ombudsman RI, Jakarta, Tuesday (19/9).

He revealed, from the data review, in December 2016, when Jokowi declared war on drugs, there were only two cases of dead gunshot in place against drug dealers. However, a month later, the number of dealers killed shot up significantly.

"In January 2017 the figure from December (only) 2 victims, to 12 victims so there is a significant increase," said Basuki.

The increase, according to him, occurred again in August 2017 after Jokowi delivered a speech in July 2017. Basuki hopes, heads of state and government are careful in issuing statements.

"We hope that the President can be wise in issuing his public statement so that it can be more organized and systematized in police work," said Basuki.

In the hearing about the shoot death procedure, Amnesty had asked the Police whether there was any discussion or meeting within the police regarding what kind of follow-up to the President's statement. However, according to Basuki, police did not answer the question. In fact, there are fears the President's statement becomes a kind of legitimacy for the act of shooting dead on the spot.

"What we are afraid of under the police is to get some sort of inspiration or legitimacy to do a deadly shoot, such as a priority," said Basuki.

Amnesty declared not to reject the shooting procedure in place or the use of firearms by officers.

"But we emphasize that the police remain obedient to the procedures of Chief of Police Regulation (Perkap)," he said.