Indonesia to deploy inline skating police officers to overcome notorious traffic jams

The Associated Press ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 06/20/2008 11:01 AM  |  Jakarta

Indonesia to deploy inline skating police officers to overcome notorious Jakarta traffic jams[

Indonesia is rolling out a new weapon in its battle against gridlock: traffic police on inline skates.

The idea is that officers will be able to reach traffic jams in the capital Jakarta quicker than by car or motorbike, the Koran Tempo daily reported. Once there, they will be able to direct vehicles to get the city's traffic flow moving again.

The city's top traffic cop Dua Sutirto said the force had hired a professional inline skater to teach the team of 20 officers before it is deployed on July 1.

"Most of the men are young and fast," Sutirto was quoted as saying.

Jakarta suffers from some of the worst traffic jams in Asia and it remains to be seen what effect - if any - the inline skating police team will have on the problem.

Jakarta is slowly rolling out a network of dedicated bus lanes, but it is still desperately short of buses, while attempts to enforce carpooling have been ineffective.

Traffic police in Jakarta have a reputation for laziness and often demand bribes from motorists to ignore minor or imaginary violations. The city's 12 million residents generally hold them in low regard. (*)

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Fibble diggle (not verified) — Sat, 08/02/2008 - 5:52am

I am sure the police are paying massive amounts of money for these skates. It's just another way to drain the country's money into the pockets of bureaucrats.

Sandra (not verified) — Sat, 07/19/2008 - 8:40am

LOL If this actually happens, I'm gonna be spending a lot of time on the streets of Jakarta just taking photos of the cops who fall in the drainage ditches, potholes and on their @sses. This is farging hilarious! Even us civilians wouldn't dream of attempting to roller blade on Jakarta's streets. It's imminent death just waiting to happen!

Kelvin (not verified) — Mon, 07/07/2008 - 10:23am

Fantastic idea, RollerCop.
This will not work as the majority of them couldn't run 100M as they are fat and unfit.
Maybe the real idea behind this bizarre suggestion is an undercover fitness programme???

BB-Leo (not verified) — Sat, 06/21/2008 - 5:29pm

It believe that is is a good idea, and one of the best. We need something like that in Australia, not because of jam-up, but because criminals are running faster than Police Officers.

Ayuna (not verified) — Sat, 06/21/2008 - 10:36am

wow, is it the real reason why Jakarta's current traffic is not well? Because no police get into the fields fast? ha..ha..ha..
There are main reasons why Jakarta's traffic is not good, and that no inskating police available are not one of them! Firstly, you should make police more effective (really taking care of traffic, rather than charging cars money and take them into the police' own pockets), even without using any skates. If you succeed, so you can go for the skates..funny Indonesia!!

Andy d (not verified) — Sat, 06/21/2008 - 2:04am

Try mountain bikes, not inline skates, in a park skates would work but not in trafffic ----- STUPID!

Andy Jones (not verified) — Sat, 06/21/2008 - 2:01am

I agree with Keith. The cops are the ones causing the traffic jams anyway. Imagine a police officer on inline skates in the middle of an intersection loosing his balance because he hit a rock or fell in a pothole. They will distract drivers and cause more accidents. This will never work; I guess they think they will be able to get to their bribe money faster $$$$$$$$$.

GMassive (not verified) — Fri, 06/20/2008 - 4:02pm

I love it!

The world gets smarter and Indonesia gets stupider.

Keith harding (not verified) — Fri, 06/20/2008 - 2:40pm

Do you really think this will work !!! there are no flat surfaces in jakarta,the police will fall over or roll the wrong way into traffic.....not to mention would the police first have to travel 5 km before he even arrives at his traffic light destination....Police should get approval before they have press releases like this to stop making them look foolish...

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