P

olice in Papua have been criticized for not doing enough to investigate a string of shootings that have killed at least three people in the past month.

“It’s unbelievable that the police can’t find clues in the cases. All the time, when a shooting happens, the police always say that the Free Papua Movement [OPM] did it. They know who is behind it, but they are not serious about pursuing the case,” Papua-based lawyer Latifah Anum Siregar said on Wednesday.

The latest shooting occurred Tuesday morning at mining company PT Freeport Indonesia’s Mile 37 in Tanggul Timur. Papua Mobile Brigade (Brimob) unit member First Brig. Ronald Sopamena was killed in the gunfight.

On Jan. 9, two employees of a PT Freeport Indonesia’s contractor, PT Kuala Pelabuhan Indonesia, Thomas Bagensa and Nasyum Simapoiref, were shot dead at Mile 51 and their bodies set on fire.

The police has yet to disclosed further information about the shooting.

The chairman of Papua’s legislative council Commission A overseeing security issues, Ruben Magai, blamed the string of shootings on police incompetence.

“We never see the role of the police in solving such cases,” he said.

Ruben said that the police has often repeated that the OPM were involved in the shootings, yet none of the rebels have been arrested and confessed their crimes.

“Please end the stigmatization, we are fed up with it. It is always the ordinary people who are victimized when, in fact, it was the security personnel who failed perform their job to protect people from violence,” Ruben said.

Ruben called on the police to immediately find the perpetrators and make the public feel safe.

“What’s left now is just antipathy towards the government,” he said.

On Wednesday, the body of Ronald Sopamena was sent to his birthplace in Ternate, North Maluku, for burial.

He was the third person shot dead while working in areas controlled by the US mining giant.

Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Bigman L Tobing said that Ronald was shot at 9 a.m. local time while conducting a routine patrol.

Tobing said that the police knew about the armed groups that operate in the area.

“We already know about them. It’s just because of the current situation that we have not been able to arrest them. The weather is so bad that they can see us while we can’t,” Tobing said.

PT Freeport Indonesia spokesperson, Ramdani Sirait, said that the road to Tanggul Timur would be closed during the investigation into the shooting.