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Spike in Gun Crimes a ‘Trend’: Jakarta Police
Bayu Marhaenjati | February 16, 2012

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benvanstaveren
7:11pm Feb 16, 2012

This "trend" is easily explained: weapons can be had illegally, mostly because of 1) ineffective policing, and 2) if the police isn't going to protect you, people will take care of it themselves.

Combine those two and you get a lot of criminals being able to purchase guns. This is the tip of the iceberg, since there are most likely many somewhat law-obiding citizens who also possess firearms "just in case".

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More and more criminals are using guns to perpetrate their crimes, the Jakarta Police said after they confiscated 23 firearms of various makes and models in just a nine-day operation.

During the operation, police also arrested 396 people in 386 different cases of robbery, rape and kidnapping.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said more street criminals were using guns to intimidate their victims.

“Using guns in criminal action has become a trend. In the last nine days, we have confiscated various kinds of guns, including revolvers, Berettas, Walthers and even homemade guns,” he said, referring to popular gun brands circulating in Indonesia.

Police, Rikwanto said, had also rounded up other weapons such as blades and knives from the criminals they apprehended.

While acknowledging that the increased use of firearms in criminal acts showed the ease with which illicit guns could be obtained, he said police were in the process of investigating the sources of the illegal arms trade.

“This is our homework. We need time to find the sources,” Rikwanto said, adding that police would act more harshly against criminals using guns.

On Monday, two people with firearms robbed a gas station in Condet, East Jakarta, making off with Rp 200 million ($22,400) in cash. One of the perpetrators shot a gas station attendant in his leg.

Last week, a respected criminologist said police had shown little effort to crack down on the circulation of illicit arms, a point underscored by recent reports of armed robberies and killings.

“Crimes using firearms are a sure indicator that police have not shown seriousness in dealing with illegal arms. There have never been any real efforts to tackle the problem,” Adrianus Meliala, a criminology expert from the University of Indonesia, told beritasatu.com.

He said the nation’s illicit arms included weapons smuggled from abroad and guns illegally made at home.

Described by Adrianus as a “rife” problem, he expressed particular concern for guns that were once legally obtained but then either stolen or sold to other parties, or for which the licenses had expired.

Last year, the National Police received 139 gun-related crime reports, including 32 robberies and violent crimes and 61 gun-related arrests. Indonesia Police Watch estimates there are 17,000 illegal arms still in circulation, 8,000 of which are in the capital.

Adrianus also said police should put special emphasis on rooting out carriers of guns with expired licenses.

“Police should come to [the owners’ houses] and confiscate [the firearms]. But in practice, police are reluctant to do so because they are owned by retired generals, well-connected businessmen and public officials,” he said.

Rikwanto said police had seized 60 percent of 6,000 arms with expired licenses.