City police chief pledges to review controversial arrest

The city police chief said Wednesday he would review the arrest of 10 shoeshine boys by officers at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport for "gambling" in order to determine whether the action was justified.

"I will summon the airport police chief and detectives to review their procedures in the arrest," Insp. Gen. Wahyono said.

The children, aged between eight and 15 years old, were arrested on May 29 for placing small bets on a coin-toss game during a police raid aimed at cleaning the airport vicinity of illegal vendors.

The children were taken to a nearby police post and allegedly made to sit in the midday sun, among other things. They remained behind bars for nearly a month, with several of the children missing out on their final exams as a result. They will have to repeat the entire school year as a result.

Child activists campaigned furiously throughout their detainment, demanding that prosecutors and police release them. The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) criticized the arrest, claiming it breached the 2002 child protection law.

M. Rizki Nasution, an activist from the KPAI, said the police had misinterpreted regulations within the law about the arrest of children.

"Clauses within the law on juvenile delinquency state that arrest should only be used as a last resort when dealing with children. Many *officers* however just seem to ignore it," he said.

Wahyono said both the police and prosecutors prolonged the children's trauma by dragging the case through the Tangerang District Court, and he pledged to assess the police handling of this case to determine whether or not the arrest was justified.

He declined to mention what action should be taken if discrepancies in the arrest were revealed.

"We can look at that after finishing the evaluation process," Wahyono said.

On Monday, the court found the children guilty on gambling charges but sentenced them to conditional release. (bbs)