T

he Jakarta Police’s program to help provide former criminals with jobs and education may mean nothing to those it is intended to help, who will likely keep returning to their old habits that are linked to street crime.

Thief AS, 23, who has committed three thefts in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, says he enjoys what he is doing and has no interest in working at companies with regular office hours and a uniform. “I’m free from being managed by other people,” he told The Jakarta Post.

He said he did not mind going back to prison because of his “job”, from which he earns Rp 100,000 (US$10) to Rp 150,000 a day.

“During my time in prison, I didn’t feel distressed at all. I even made good friends with other convicts,” said AS, who was released from prison two weeks ago after serving six months.

The police arrested 2,315 individuals in an operation called Cipta Kondisi (Conditioning) in Greater Jakarta between November 2012 and April this year. Out of that number, 458 were arrested for alleged robbery, extortion, narcotics offences and murder, while 1,857 were released as there was no evidence of their crimes, according to Jakarta Police director for community development Sr. Comr. Yosi Hariyoso.

He said the police had kept information on all the 2,315 individuals in their database, including their photographs and fingerprints.

The operation was launched in response to an increasing number of crimes in relation to narcotics, student brawls and illegal car racing reported by the public.

East Jakarta Police spokesman Comr. Didik Hariyadi said the East Jakarta Police had arrested 12 out of 87 people in Jatinegara bus station, Pulogadung bus station and Kramat Jati main market.

“We’ve sent those we released to the Jakarta Social Agency for training, so they’ll have specific skills to make a decent living when they return to society,” he told the Post.

He said the East Jakarta Police were also providing around 100 unemployed young people with interpersonal skills in six-day training sessions. After the training, the young people would work at PT Jakarta Industrial Estate Pulogadung, owned by both the central government and the city administration, in Pulogadung, East Jakarta, he said.

“The police cooperate with such companies through their corporate social responsibility programs to train young, unemployed people to work as security guards or office boys,” Didik said.

Police earlier said those who had been trained were employed by companies such as Astra Group and the Jakarta International Container Terminal.

University of Indonesia criminologist Irvan Olil said the police needed to involve the city administration, especially the Jakarta Social Agency and the Jakarta Manpower Agency, in conducting their program.

“Arresting these individuals doesn’t mean they won’t reoffend as most of them see their criminal activities as a profession. More needs to be done instead of only arresting people,” he said.

Eva Kusuma Sundari, a member of the House of Representatives’ Commission III overseeing security, said that in many cases, crime was created by police officers, making it more difficult to handle.

“Officers should stop using criminals to accommodate their interests because they’re the law enforcement agents,” she said. (tam)