Thorough job transfers for middle-ranking police officers are being deliberated by National Police as part of the force's bureaucratic reform, an official said.
"The move is being discussed by an assessment team. The team will consider the officers' track records in doing their duties, personal capabilities and integrity," the head of the police human resources division, Insp. Gen. Edy Soenarno, told The Jakarta Post recently.
The National Police recently announced they had begun to reform the organization at provincial and municipal levels. One of the changes is to dissolve regional police offices at several provincial capitals such as Bandung, West Java.
Bandung has a command office called that manages several municipal level offices.
The change would force officers at decommissioned offices to transfer to posts at precincts and sub-precincts.
Edy said they were given a one-year deadline to implement reforms.
"In the future, we are going to have more officers at precincts and sub-precincts, meaning that we will be able to provide better service to the people," deputy police spokesman Brig. Gen. Sulistyo Ishak was quoted as saying by Kompas daily.
Sulistyo said the police would eventually close 27 regional offices across the country.
To date, there are 31 provincial offices and 472 precincts throughout the country. Provincial offices are usually led by police generals while precincts are led by middle-ranking officers.
Edy said his division was working hard to ensure there would be no conflicts of interest or unrest among transferred officers.
"From my perspective, of course we will do the best we can to avoid potential conflict by carefully perusing every officer's background, profile and their track record while carrying out their duties," he said.
Commenting on the reform, police expert Alfons Loemau criticized the plan, saying that he doubted the police would be able to give faster and more comprehensive service to the public if regional offices were closed.
"The police will have larger jurisdictions. How will they provide faster assistance if the regional offices are closed?" he said.
Alfons, a former police officer, said the planned reform would not guarantee better public service.
The police are in the middle of a grand strategy scheduled to be implemented from 2005-2025. National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said bureaucratic reform programs were divided into three phases.
The first, building public trust, was focused on improving the image of the police from unprofessional, ineffective and corrupt, into a more professional and clean one.
The second phase, public partnership, is aimed at building more effective and professional service for the public. The closure of regional offices is part of this phase. The third phase will focus on improving services, with the aim of providing excellent public service.
