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Jakarta Post

Getting a police escort is fair game for anyone

Following an incident in Yogyakarta involving an activist who stopped a Harley Davidson motorcade for running a red light with the protection of police escorts, the National Police said on Tuesday that there was no regulation on who was eligible to get an escort on the roads

Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, August 19, 2015

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Getting a police escort is fair game for anyone

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ollowing an incident in Yogyakarta involving an activist who stopped a Harley Davidson motorcade for running a red light with the protection of police escorts, the National Police said on Tuesday that there was no regulation on who was eligible to get an escort on the roads.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Agus Rianto told The Jakarta Post that once a request for a police escort was submitted to a local police station, officers would then evaluate and decide whether an escort was necessary.

'€œEveryone is allowed [to request a police escort] but then we will decide whether to fulfill their request, or whether it is possible to secure the roads for them,'€ Agus said at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta.

Last Saturday, people attempted to block a group of Harley Davidson enthusiasts touring Yogyakarta with police escorts. Many complained that the motorcade not only ran many red lights but also caused crashes in some spots.

One of the men who disrupted the motorcade, Elanto Wijayanto, said that he tried to block the motorcyclists because they did not deserve to be escorted by police.

'€œAs far as I'€™m concerned, only state officials, foreign guests, ambulances and fire trucks are allowed to have police escorts, not people from the private sector,'€ Elanto told local media in Yogyakarta.

However, Agus disagreed and said that based on the 2009 Traffic Law, the National Police had full authority to decide who would be allowed police escorts and that it was not exclusive to state officials and emergency situations.

'€œFor example, we may give a police escort to a wedding group or a group of soccer players on the way to a match or even a demonstration,'€ he said.

According to Article 134 of the law, several vehicles must be given priority on the road, including fire trucks, ambulances, vehicles intending to assist a traffic accident, vehicles of state officials and foreign guests, vehicles escorting the transportation of human remains or others given by the police for special reasons.

However, the law also describes '€œspecial reasons'€ as emergency situations, including vehicles transporting bomb squads, vehicles transporting officers or vehicles used for handling natural disasters.

Meanwhile, Achmad Izzul Waro of the Jakarta Transportation Council (DTKJ) told the Post that the public had a right to be angry.

'€œThe public sometimes gets annoyed because those being escorted in a motorcade don'€™t look like they'€™re headed somewhere important nor are they in an emergency situation,'€ he said.

Izzul suggested that in light of the Yogyakarta incident the police should publish a detailed list on who could use a police escort.

'€œThe police must make it clear to the public who is eligible to get an escort as the Traffic Law does not give enough detail,'€ he said.

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