T

he Jakarta Police and the National Narcotics Agency conducted unannounced urine tests on 469 officers on Wednesday as part of efforts to ensure the police force was clean of drugs.

Jakarta Police narcotics directorate head Sr. Comr. Eko Daniyanto told reporters at the Jakarta Police headquarters in South Jakarta that his directorate tested police officers from the Jakarta Police'€™s directorate of general crimes and directorate of special crimes.

'€œOnly the Jakarta Police chief [Insp. Gen. Unggung Cahyono] and I knew about the test. It was a complete surprise,'€ he said.

Eko added that 15 officers from the two directorates had yet to be tested because they were on duty at the time.

The urine samples had been transferred to the Jakarta Narcotics Agency in South Jakarta and the results would be available in one to two days, he explained.

Eko cited Jakarta Police data that showed there had been 16 officers across the whole country named as suspects in drug-related crimes from January to November. This is more than the 13 officers named suspects in drug-related crimes during the whole of last year.

'€œThe number of police personnel involved in these crimes increases every year, unfortunately,'€ he said.

The involvement of police officers in drug-related crimes is not new. In September, the West Jakarta Police found 34 of its officers had tested positive for crystal methamphetamine and nimetazepam pills, known as '€œHappy Five'€, after West Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Fadil Imran ordered all officers to take urine tests in August.

Instead of being discharged or detained, the drug users were sent to physical and mental guidance sessions for one month in the hope they would be rehabilitated without needing to be sent to a rehabilitation center.

Eko said that one policeman from the Jakarta Police had already been discharged and another was still being investigated by the internal affairs division (Propam).

'€œIf we find that any of our police test positive for drugs, we will rehabilitate them for three months at the Jakarta Police'€™s narcotics directorate,'€ he said.

The rehabilitation, Eko explained, would involve counselling sessions to cure the officers of their drug addiction and investigate how involved they were in drug trafficking.

The officer would then be tested again after three months.

'€œIf the final test shows the person is clean then they can go back to work. However, if it comes back positive, we would hand the officer over to Propam,'€ he said.

Previously, the Indonesian Police Watch (IPW) had criticized the leniency shown to police officers caught doing drugs compared to how the police treated civilians.

IPW Neta S. Pane said that officers who tested positive for drugs use should undergo intensive interrogation immediately and those who were found guilty of drug possession or drug trafficking should face heavier sentences than civilians as they were law enforcers.