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strong>July 6, p.4

Without internal reforms, the National Police will continue to use excessive force when dealing with demonstrations.

Sociologist Tamrin Tomagola of the University of Indonesia said the government needs to push for reform within the National Police.

“We need a statement from the President that police must stop committing violence. A firm statement from the President will end violent conduct by police officers,” Tamrin said at a recent forum to coincide with the 66th anniversary of the National Police, on July 1.

Your comments:

As long as the police are centralized, nobody can touch them. Before talking about reform initiatives, putting police under local government control is a prerequisite of success.

Suri Adniyana

You have a big problem here. It may be difficult to improve your police, but not impossible. To begin with, you need to know what you need, and then make a plan to achieve it.

Reforming police will be impossible unless everyone has a good idea of what reform will look like. My new book will give you plenty of help and a way forward, Arrested Development: A Veteran Police Chief Sounds Off About Protest, Racism, Corruption and the Seven Steps Necessary to Improve Our Nation’s Police. You can also visit my blog at http://improvingpolice.wordpress.com/ where I discuss these and other current police improvement issues. Good luck and good policing!

David C. Couper