Pilot in Schiphol security scare was instructing a trainee at the time

DutchNews, November 7, 2019

Military police at Schiphol after the scare. Photo: AP Photo/Peter Dejong via HH 

The pilot who sparked a security scare at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on Wednesday night was giving a trainee instructions when he accidently gave a hijacking alert, airline Air Europa has confirmed. 

The pilot activated the hijacking alert code as priority passengers were boarding, putting D pier into lockdown and launching a high-profile military police operation which generated news coverage around the world. 

No disciplinary measures will be taken against the pilot because there is nothing to blame him for, the airline told broadcaster NOS. 

Meanwhile, one of the 26 passengers on board the plane said they only realised the extent of the scare when they were allowed to leave the aircraft. 

‘My family rang when I was in the plane because they heard it had been hijacked,’ Javier Domingo told the Parool. ‘They had seen these messages about people with knives on board but none of it was true. We were just sitting talking. Some people were watching films on their iPad.’ 

Only on leaving the plane, where they were photographed and searched, did passengers realise what had been going on, he said. 

When the passengers were finally let back on board, the pilot was standing in the doorway. ‘He offered every passenger his apologies on behalf of Air Europa,’ Domingo said. ‘But he did not say that it was he himself who had caused it.’

Related Article:

Schiphol security alert is a false alarm, military police alerted by mistake

Cyclists face €95 fine for using their phone while cycling

DutchNews, January 31, 2019

Cyclists caught using their mobile phone without a hands-free kit face a fine of €95 from July 1, the Parool said on Thursday, quoting sources in The Hague. 

The ban on using a mobile phone while cycling is due to be discussed at Friday’s cabinet meeting and ministers are expected to vote in favour of the fine, the paper said. 

The size of the fine is in line with other penalties for cyclists, which include €100 for cycling while drunk and €95 for cycling through a red light. Motorists face a €240 fine for using their phone while driving. 

Transport minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen published draft legislation in September making it an offence ‘to hold a mobile electronic devices while driving all vehicles [so including bikes]’. 

The words ‘mobile electronic device’ rather than mobile phone were deliberately chosen to take developments in the future into account. 

Nearly half of cyclists are said to use their phones while cycling, and phones are said to have played a role in 20% of bike accidents involving the under-25s, the transport ministry said last year.

What’sApp? Dutch to ban cyclists from holding their mobile phones

DutchNews, September 25, 2018 

Photo: Depositphotos.com

The Netherlands is to ban all but the hands-free use of mobile phones on bikes from next year, the AD said on Tuesday. 

Transport minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen published draft legislation on Tuesday which will make it an offence ‘to hold a mobile electronic devices while driving all vehicles [so including bikes],’ the paper quoted the minister as saying. 

The paper says the words ‘mobile electronic device’ rather than mobile phone have been deliberately chosen to take developments in the future into account. 

Drivers are already banned from using their mobile phones without a hands-free connection in cars and lorries, with a maximum fine of €230. 

‘This decision sets a clear and consistent standard,’ the minister said. ‘If you are in charge of a vehicle in traffic, no matter what sort of mode of transport, you should not be holding mobile electronic equipment,’ Van Nieuwenhuizen said. 

The aim is to introduce the new legislation, which was first mooted in December, on July 1, 2019. 

One in three 12 to 21-year-olds cycle and use their phones at the same time and phones are said to have played a role in 20% of bike accidents involving the under-25s, the transport ministry said last year.

Dutch prepare to bring in new EU rules on airline passenger information

DutchNews, January 10, 2018

Justice minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus has submitted a draft law to parliament which will require airlines to hand over all their information about passengers to the military police. 

The information will go to a new police unit for analysis with the aim of tracking down terrorists and major criminals, the minister said. The new law stems from the European Passenger Name Record directive, which is now being incorporated into Dutch law. 

Grapperhaus expects the legislation to complete its passage through parliament before the summer. 

Information about passengers – including details about baggage, payments and addresses – will be kept for five years. It can also be shared with other countries, Europol and the regular Dutch police force.

Decoy bikes with GPS trackers lead to sharp drop in bike theft, expert say

DutchNews, December 14, 2017

Photo: Depositphotos.com

The use of decoy bikes fitted with police GPS tracking systems has reduced bike theft by up to 50% in the places where they are being used, economist Ben Vollaard told Thursday’s Telegraaf. 

The paper says Vollaard’s research at Tilburg University shows that ‘professional criminals’ are more likely to disappear when the special bikes are being used. 

Vollaard looked at 14 places where the decoy bikes were placed, including Dordrecht and Gorinchem. In total, the decoy bikes were used 1,612 times last year and 1,220 arrests were made as a result, the paper said. 

Police currently have a pool of 300 bikes at their disposal, of which around 70 are electric bikes. All are new bikes from popular brands such as Gazelle or Batavus. 

By the beginning of October this year, police had received 61,063 reports of stolen bikes, down more than 13,000 on the 2016 total. 

‘I know that everyone says no-one bothers to report a stolen bike but these are the only figures we have to base policy on,’ said Mogjan Yavari of Centrum Fietsendiefstal, which unites police, insurers and manufacturers.

Dutch police eagle on standby at Nato summit to take down drones

DutchNews, May 23, 2017

A police eagle in uniform. Photo: Eric Brinkhorst via HH

There will be an extra Dutch visitor at Thursday’s Nato summit in Brussels – an eagle trained to take down drones, news agency ANP reported. 

Dutch police have been involved training eagles to catch drones since early last year and decided to go ahead with the project last September, after a successful trial. 

Now one bird, an American sea eagle, will be on standby in Brussels in case drones are flown in unauthorised airspace, ANP said. 

In total, 29 government leaders and heads of state, including US president Donald Trump, will attend the meeting amid a massive security operation. 

A police eagle was also on duty in Rotterdam last week when Feyenoord celebrated winning the Eredivisie.

Eight ‘taxi drivers’ arrested for scamming tourists at Schiphol

DutchNews, April 14, 2017

Eight men have been arrested for scamming tourists arriving at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport by charging them extortionate fees for short taxi journeys, the public prosecution department said on Friday. 

Several of the eight men picked up had official taxi licences but the others were operating illegally, the department said. 

The taxis picked up foreign tourists at Schiphol who wanted to go to Amsterdam. At the end of their journey they attempted to charge their passengers ridiculously high fees and put considerable pressure on them if they refused to do so. 

One Swedish tourist was charged €595 for a trip to the centre of the capital. As he only had €300 in cash, the driver forced him to withdraw the rest from an ATM. In another case, a tourist from Japan was held hostage in the cab because he refused to pay a bill of €300. 

The eight men come from Amsterdam and Zwanenburg and are aged between 23 and 31. Four of them have been remanded in custody. 

Police also found a gun and two tasers at the home of one of the suspects. 

Haarlemermeer town council introduced a ban on taxi touts in February. Drivers caught breaking the law can be fined up to €1,500. 

Last year, a taxi driver tried to charge a group of Chinese tourists €485 to take them from Schiphol airport to their hotel in the west of the city. 

When the group tried to leave the taxi after refusing to pay, the driver drove off with them inside. In the end one of them managed to break a window and the taxi stopped.

Legal eagles recruited to take down drones after successful police trial

DutchNews, September 12, 2016

Photo: politie.nl 

The Netherlands has become the first country to recruit police eagles to take out drones in mid-flight following a successful trial. 

Police began training the birds of prey in January, despite concerns from some animal welfare experts that the exercise could damage their claws. A spokesman told NRC there had been no injuries so far but protective gear could be introduced.

‘A common or garden drone has no impact on the claws of a bird of prey, but very large drones with powerful motors could cause lacerations,’ he said. ‘We are currently looking at protective measures such as a sort of clawed shoe for the birds’ feet.’ 

‘A lot of drones have perished [during the exercise],’ he added. 

The move is in response to concerns about the growing risk of drones being flown in unauthorised airspace, such as close to an airport, or interfering with other aircraft such as rescue helicopters. 

The birds which were trained in the trial are owned by a private company, but police will now recruit their own flying squad for active service.

‘Police have purchased four month-old American sea eagle chicks. From next summer they will go out hunting drones,’ the spokesman said.

Related Article:

Eagles v drones: Dutch police to take on rogue aircraft with flying squad

#NEWSGRAPHIC Eagle vs drone: Dutch police reveal new elite flying squad @AFP https://t.co/g9ZaYt2xdm pic.twitter.com/b2l3vDnyhV

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 13, 2016

Drunk co-pilot picked up at Schiphol, poised to fly out

DutchNews.nl, May 11, 2015

Schiphol airport police picked up a drunken co-pilot who was about to fly out on Sunday morning. 

The pilot was poised to join the flight when he was stopped by police who were tipped off that he had been drinking. 

A breathalyser test showed he had a blood alcohol level of 0.375, which a police spokesman told local broadcaster AT5 was a ‘considerable’ amount. Air crew are not supposed to drink for 10 hours before a flight. 

Police have refused to say which airline the man worked for or what the destination of the plane was. He was banned from flying for 15 hours and fined €6,000.

‘What he was doing was extremely dangerous because he was really about to fly,’ the spokesman said.

Germanwings crash co-pilot hid illness from airline

Yahoo – AFP, Celine Jankowiak with Deborah Cole in Berlin, 27 March 2015

French gendarmes and investigators sift through the scattered debris on March 26, 

2015 at the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320 in the French Alps above

the southeastern town of Seyne (AFP Photo/Anne-Christine Poujoulat)

The black box voice recorder indicates that Andreas Lubitz, 27, locked his captain out of the cockpit on Tuesday and deliberately flew Flight 4U 9525 into a mountainside, French officials say, in what appears to have been a case of suicide and mass murder.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that "everything is pointing towards an act that we can't describe: criminal, crazy, suicidal".

German prosecutors revealed that searches of Lubitz's homes netted "medical documents that suggest an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment", including "torn-up and current sick leave notes, among them one covering the day of the crash".

A police officer pictured outside the apartment 

of Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot of the crashed

 Germanwings plane, in Duesseldorf, western

 Germany, on March 26, 2015 (AFP Photo/

Federico Gambarini)

They did not specify the illness.

But Bild daily earlier reported that Lubitz sought psychiatric help for "a bout of serious depression" in 2009 and was still getting assistance from doctors, quoting documents from Germany's air transport regulator.

The paper also cited security sources as saying that Lubitz and his girlfriend were having a "serious crisis in their relationship" that left him distraught.

Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said that Lubitz had suspended his pilot training, which began in 2008, "for a certain period", before restarting and qualifying for the Airbus A320 in 2013.

According to Bild, those setbacks were linked to "depression and anxiety attacks".

Lubitz lived with his parents in his small home town of Montabaur in the Rhineland and kept an apartment in Duesseldorf, the city where his doomed plane was bound.

Duesseldorf prosecutors said the evidence found in the two homes "backs up the suspicion" that Lubitz "hid his illness from his employer and his colleagues".

They said they had not found a suicide note, confession or anything pointing to a "political or religious" motive but added it would take "several days" to evaluate the rest of what was collected.

Reiner Kemmler, a psychologist who specialises in training pilots, noted that people "know that depression can compromise their airworthiness and they can hide it".

"If someone dissimulates, ie they don't want other people to notice, it's very, very difficult," Kemmler told Deutschlandfunk public radio.

Desperate captain used 'axe'

Lubitz locked himself into the cockpit when the captain went out to use the toilet, then refused his colleague's increasingly desperate attempts to get him to reopen the door, French prosecutor Brice Robin said.

According to Bild, the captain even tried using an axe to break through the armoured door as the plane was sent into its fatal descent by Lubitz.

This could not be immediately confirmed, but a spokesman for Germanwings told Bild that an axe was standard emergency equipment on board the aircraft.

A policeman stands next to a police car in

 front of a house in Duesseldorf, western 

Germany, on March 26, 2015, during the

 investigation into the Germanwings 

plane crash over the French Alps 

(AFP Photo/David Young)

The tragedy has already prompted a shake-up of safety rules, with several airlines announcing a new policy requiring there always be two people in the cockpit.

German aviation industry body BDL and the transport ministry agreed to the rule for Lufthansa, its subsidiary Germanwings and other companies, while the European Aviation Security Agency threw its weight behind the policy.

Meanwhile, the UN world aviation body stressed that all pilots must have regular mental and physical check-ups.

'Unimaginable'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the findings that Lubitz appeared intent on crashing the plane added an "absolutely unimaginable dimension" to the tragedy, in which most victims were German and Spanish nationals.

In the northwestern town of Haltern, which lost 16 students and two teachers who were returning from a school exchange, the revelations prompted shock and rage.

The principal of the stricken school, Ulrich Wessel, said "what makes all of us so angry (is) that a suicide can lead to the deaths of 149 other people".

German President Joachim Gauck, a Protestant pastor, attended a memorial service in Haltern Friday and also extended special condolences to the families of the victims in Spain and other countries.

Meanwhile in Montabaur, Mayor Edmund Schaaf urged reporters encamped in the community to show restraint with Lubitz's parents, a banker and a church organist, who live in a handsome home on a leafy, normally quiet street.

"Regardless of whether the accusations against the co-pilot are true, we sympathise with his family and ask the media to be considerate," he said.

A French gendarmerie helicopter winches up an investigator on March 26, 2015 near
scattered debris on the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320 in the French
Alps above the southeastern town of Seyne (AFP Photo/Anne-Christine Poujoulat)

Descent button

Investigators say Lubitz's intention was clear because he operated a button sending the plane into a plunge.

For the next eight minutes, Lubitz was apparently calm and breathing normally.

"He does not say a single word. Total silence," Robin said.

The second-in-command had all psychological tests required for training, Lufthansa's Spohr told reporters Thursday, insisting: "He was 100-percent airworthy."

Recovery operations at the crash site were ongoing, with French officials trying to find body parts and evidence. A second black box, which records flight data, has not yet been recovered.

"There's not much plane debris left. There's mainly a lot of body parts to pick up. The operation could last another two weeks," said police spokesman Xavier Vialenc.

Related Articles:

Psych meds found at home of Germanwings co-pilot: media reports
Police search home of Andreas Lubitz, Germanwings co-pilot behind crash

15 Satpol PP Officers Named Suspects Over Forced East Nusa Tenggara Airport Closure

Jakarta Globe, Ezra Sihite & Farouk Arnaz, December 24, 2013

A Merpati Nusantara Airlines plane sits at an airport in Luwuk, Central
Sulawesi. (JG Photo/Erwida Maulia)

Police on Tuesday said 15 public order agency (Satpol PP) officers in Ngada district, East Nusa Tenggara, have been named suspects in an investigation after carrying out an order from the district head to forcefully close a local airport on Saturday.

Turelelo Soa Airport was temporarily shut on Saturday morning after Marianus Sae, the district head, ordered for it to be closed after he was denied a ticket on an fully-booked Merpati Nusantara flight. Airport officials said they could do nothing to end the blockade because they were outnumbered by Satpol PP officers enforcing Marianus’s wishes.

“Fifteen [Satpol PP officers] have been named suspects for violating the law and trespassing on the runway,” East Nusa Tenggara Police chief Brig. Gen. I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana told Indonesian news portal vivanews.com.

He said it would need some time, though, before Marianus himself could be charged in the case.

“Our law specifies that questioning of district heads requires permission, a recommendation from the governor,” Untung said.

He added that Ngada Police were currently dealing with the case.

“[They] are investigating others first — those whose questioning doesn’t require a letter,” Untung said. “They need time. They’re working in stages.”

Separately in Jakarta, National Police chief Gen. Sutarman said Marianus allegedly violated Indonesia’s Aviation Law.

“Shutting an airport violates Article 421 of the 2009 Law on Aviation,” he said. “Blockading an airport is punishable by three years in prison and Rp 1 billion [$82,000] in fines.”

Sutarman added that police decided to commence the investigation into the case even though no one had filed a report against Marianus.

He added that anyone involved in the closure might face legal charges.

“There are three [alleged] perpetrators: those who did it, those who helped and those who ordered it,” Sutarman said. “The punishment will be the same. We will question [all of them].”

Aside from the Satpol PP officers, police said they have questioned officials from Merpati and airport operator Angkasa Pura, as well as airport security personnel, over Saturday’s incident.

Related Article:

Ngada District Head Named Suspect After Shutting Down Airport

Seven dead as troubled tourist bus overturns in Pasuruan

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Sun, 05/06/2012

Seven passengers of a Mutiara Indah Murni tourist bus died Sunday as bus they were traveling in crashed in Ngembal village, Tutur (Nongkojajar) district in Pasuruan regency, East Java, on Sunday.

Five passengers died on the scene, while two other died on the way to Ganesha Medica hospital in Purwosari.

Survivors said they smelled burning braking pads just before the accident as the bus was rolling downhill. Passengers said the bus went out of control, especially after the driver, Slamet, slammed to the left in an attempt to avoid a motorcycle, kompas.com reported on Sunday.

Unfortunately, one of the bus’ wheels struck a large stone, causing the bus to roll several times before coming to rest on the shoulder of the opposing lane, blocking traffic along the highway.

The bus carried some 60 residents taking a tour from the Candi Lontar housing complex, located in the Sambikerep district of Surabaya, East Java.

They had just visited the Agro Bhakti Alam tourism site in Ngembal village and were heading for the Sengkaling public bath in Malang regency. The bus had only traveled two kilometers from Agro Bhakti Alam when the accident occurred.

One of the passengers, Sasongko, said the bus had broken down in the Purwosari area on their way to Ngembal village.

He said the radiator leaked and the bus had braking problems. “The driver sealed the leakage simply using a bar of soap. The leaking radiator showed that the bus was not roadworthy,” he told kompas.com.

Nongkojajar Police chief Adj. Comr. Marwan Ishari Purnomo said the police had detained the driver for further questioning. 

Police aircraft crashes in Papua

Antara News, Thursday, October 28, 2010 10:55 WIB

Jakarta(ANTARA News) - An aircraft of National Police Headquarters with five crewmembers crashed at Wami area in Wanggar district, Papua, on Wednesday.

"Theaircraft is predicted to have crashed at Wami area on Wednesday. Three bodieshave been discovered while two others remain missing," National Policespokesman Insp Gen Iskandar Hasan said here on Thursday.

Iskandarsaid the police ill-fated Skytruck plane was with five crews, namely AdjunctCommissioner Irwan as pilot, Inspector-I Bayu as co-pilot, and Inspector-IIMohamad Amri, Brigadier-I Hadirianto, and Brigadier-I Aipul Bahri when it wentmissing.

"Threebodies have so far been discovered but two others remained missing,"Iskandar said, adding that the ill-fated plane transported logistic assistanceto Wasior flood victims, and was flying from Nabire to Jakarta via Ambon andMakassar when it went down at Wami in Wanggar district.

Iskandarsaid that after refueling at Nabire, it took off to Ambon at 3.55 pm local timebut 35 minutes afterward it lost contact.

Then at11.30 pm the people of Wami in Papua informed the local police that they saw anaircraft went down not far from the area where they lived.

Iskandarsaid the crash of the police Skytruck aircraft was due to bad weather.

W Java traffic accidents kill thousands

Antara News, Sunday, June 6, 2010 03:11 WIB

Bandung, W Java (ANTARA News) - West Java Province lost 4,098 people in traffic accidents last year. Eighty percent of them were in the productive ages, West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan said.

"The West Java police reported that last year`s traffic accident death toll reached 4,098 people. Eighty percent of them were in productive ages," he said here Saturday.

Besides killing 4,098 people, the 2009 traffic accidents had also caused at least 3,000 others to get injured, he said.

Ironically, 75 percent of the traffic accident victims were motorists while the remaining 25 percent were car drivers, he said.

Governor Ahmad Heryawan said traffic accidents remained the biggest causes of death in the world.

More than 1.2 million people were killed on roads every year. Ninety percent happened in developing countries, he said.

In reducing the traffic accident cases in West Java, Heryawan asked the police to intensify the campaigns of their "police as children`s friend" program.

Through the program, children could have been educated about safe traffic from their early ages, he said.

Governor Ahmad Heryawan said creating highly-disciplined traffic users in his province and Indonesia was not only the government`s responsibility but also that of other stakeholders.

The children, who received the police`s socialization program, were expected to have safe traffic behavior when they became aduts, he said.

Social Affairs Minister Steers Into Trouble for Using Bus Lane

Jakarta Globe, Nurfika Osman & Arientha Primanita, May 05, 2010

Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf Al Jufri has provoked the ire of commuters and officials alike after barreling down a restricted busway lane in the morning rush hour because he was “running late for a meeting.”

“We had permission from the Jakarta Police’s Traffic Management Center in the morning, as the minister needed to avoid the traffic in the Mampang area [in South Jakarta],” Heri Kristianto, a spokesman for the ministry, told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday.

“The minister’s aide called the police and they allowed us to use the busway lane. It was urgent. The minister needed to be at the State Palace for a meeting, and on-duty police officers helped direct the car onto the lane.”

The Traffic Management Center, however, has denied the claim. “We’ve never given any permission for official or private vehicles to use the Trans-Jakarta busway lanes,” said Adj. Comr. Mujiana, a senior officer there, in a written statement. “It’s a clear violation of regulations, as the lane should be free of all other vehicles. “We are currently in the process of keeping all lanes in all busway corridors free of other traffic. No vehicles are entitled to use them.”

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo said he would reprimand Salim as soon as possible.

“We’ll warn him just as we warned a former vice president who tried the same stunt,” he said, referring to Hamzah Haz.

A picture of the minister’s car was posted on news portal detik.com and on social networking site Twitter, where it went viral.

Users posted comments ranging from, “Why doesn’t he wake up earlier, like the rest of us?” to “They expect us to obey the rules while they don’t.”

Salim posted his own tweet 12 hours after the fact to apologize.

The Transportation Study Institute has long complained about the futility of keeping the busway lanes exclusive, saying public order officials should guard them to prevent other vehicles from encroaching.

“If the city administration really wants to reduce traffic jams, it should pay more attention to the [busway] so that more people will want to use it,” said Izzul Maro, a researcher at the institute.

Related Article:

Minister gets pat on the wrist for busway blunder

Jakarta Police to hold routine traffic inspections

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sun, 04/11/2010 5:13 PM

Jakarta Police’s traffic unit will hold routine inspections of disordered public transportation, motorcyclists using non-SNI (Indonesian National Standard) helmets and unlicensed minivans, starting Monday.

“We will give tickets to violators on the spot,” head of the traffic unit Sr. Comr. Condro Kirono told tempointeraktif.com on Sunday.

Around 2,300 police personnel will be deployed in Jakarta's worst traffic spots, said Condro. “For example, in Slipi and Grogol, West Jakarta, as well as Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta,” he added.

Condro promised that officers would maintain police protocol during the inspections, which are scheduled to end May 1.

Related Article:

Police Launch Crackdown On Traffic, Safety Violations

Zero tolerance drug program launched at airport

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang | Wed, 01/20/2010 5:13 PM

The National Police launched a zero tolerance drug program at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Wednesday as part of an effort to crack down on drug trafficking and drug abuse across the country.

National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said the program would be the vanguard of the national campaign against drugs, often found to have been smuggled into the country through the airport.

“We need to cooperate and conduct a joint study with related parties such as airport and seaport operators, state prosecutors and penitentiaries in an attempt to anticipate and prevent drug-related crime,” Bambang said.

He added that the police had prepared a new measure to stamp out drug offenses, but he declined to go into detail.

A number of the police top brass, including National Police detective chief Comr. Gen, Ito Sumardi and head of the National Narcotics Body Comr. Gen. Gories Mere, and customs and excise, immigration, airport and seaport officials attended the ceremony.

Customs and excise officers at Soekarno-Hatta airport have arrested dozens of foreigners who attempted to smuggle drugs into the country over the past few months.

Drivers Beware: Jakarta Police Install CCTV at Busy Sarinah Intersection

The Jakarta Globe

A closed circuit television (CCTV) system has been installed at the Sarinah intersection on Jalan M.H. Thamrin in Central Jakarta on Monday night in an attempt to discourage dangerous driving in the area.

Jakarta Police’s Traffic Directorate and the Transportation Office installed the cameras, which were officially put to use on Tuesday morning.

According to Jakarta Police’s traffic director Sr. Comr. Condro Kirono, motorists must be more discipined because the camera is able to automatically take pictures of motorists who violate traffic regulations.

Condro said that the camera is linked to Jakarta Police’s Traffic Management Center. The pictures will be processed along with a police note that will be sent to the violator’s address.

In January 2010, Jakarta Police planned to add more CCTV devices along other main streets such as Sudirman, Senayan, Fatmawati, Grogol and Gatot Subroto.

To the left, transport agency tells motorcyclists

Indah Setiawati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 12/23/2009 8:09 AM

Starting next year, the transportation agency will install additional road signs to support the traffic regulation ruling motorcyclists are to use the left side of the road.

“There’s actually a written regulation that stipulates motorcyclists are to use the left lane, but it’s not actually obeyed, or even enforced,” M. Akbar, head of the agency’s traffic engineering and management division, told The Jakarta Post via telephone Tuesday.

He said the agency had finished installing road signs and markers on six major thoroughfares: Jl. Sudirman, Jl. Thamrin, Jl. Merdeka Barat and Jl. Suprapto in Central Jakarta, as well as Jl. Pemuda and Jl. Pramuka in East Jakarta.

The road signs and markers on the six streets, he said, were aimed at reminding road users to obey the rules.

“We will gradually phase in the signs on other streets,” Akbar said.

An article in the 2009 Traffic Law states that motorcycles, slow vehicles, commercial vehicles and non-motorized vehicles should use the left side of the road. Another section rules that the right lane is dedicated to vehicles that are turning to the right or passing another vehicle.

Violators of the law could face a maximum sentence of one month in prison and a fine of Rp 250,000 (US$26).

Akbar said it was not the agency’s intention to impose regulations that would prohibit motorcycles from using the main thoroughfares.

“We don’t want to prohibit motorcycles [from using these streets], we just want to be able to better manage motorcycle traffic,” he said.

The deputy head of the agency, Riza Hashim, had previously said the agency would take certain steps before applying a policy that would ban motorcycles from certain streets.

The agency, he said, would start by creating special lanes dedicated to motorcyclists in certain streets.

“Following that, we can take the next step of prohibiting motorcycles from using certain key streets,” he was quoted as saying Sunday by Warta Kota daily.

Previous proposals to prohibit motorcycles from using Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin first surfaced during the term of former governor Sutiyoso in 2006 and were roundly criticized by motorcyclists.

Sutiyoso had expected to reduce traffic congestion by applying the policy. Similar regulations have been implemented on major thoroughfares in Beijing and Shanghai in China.

To date, the policy has not been implemented because no legal regulations governing the policy have been issued.

The concept, first floated last year, of having special motorcycle lanes has also sparked controversy among road users who feared the policy could instead worsen traffic congestion with millions of motorcycles scrambling for limited space.

In 2007, data from the Jakarta Police showed the number of motorcycles in the city had reached 3 million. This figure is predicted to have grown an additional 10 to 20 percent in the last two years.

This year alone, Jakarta Police have recorded more than 600 deaths from 6,286 road accidents, of which 3,606 accidents, more than half the total, involved motorcyclists.

From the streets to homes, crime, accidents worry residents

Hasyim Widhiarto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 12/21/2009 3:14 PM

A mother of one, who lives in Taman Palem Lestari housing complex in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, was shocked recently when she found out that an unoccupied house near her residence was a drug factory.

"I thought the house was being renovated as I saw one or two cars coming to unload things several times," she said.

"I only realized there was a drug making factory just a few meters from my door when the police raided the house and found a dozen kilograms of ingredients to make crystal methamphetamine."

Having lived in the complex for more than two years, the woman said she and her husband did not mix much with the other residents as both of them were busy managing their clock businesses in various shopping malls in Jakarta.

A series of high-profile crimes in residential complexes have made the headlines this year.

For example, as of the second week of December, the police have successfully uncovered a dozen drug factories or safe houses in Greater Jakarta, mostly located in apartments or modern housing complexes.

On Feb. 17, police discovered a crystal meth factory at the Citra Raya housing complex in Cikupa, Tangerang.

In the first week of December, the police arrested eight suspects for possessing 4.8 kilograms of crystal meth worth Rp 8.5 billion (US$901,000) from an apartment in the Laguna Apartment building in Penjaringan, North Jakarta.

It seems that the privacy provided by building or complex managements is apparently an advantage for drug syndicates, as they are able to produce and distribute their wares away from the prying eyes of neighbors. Recent cases, however, have seen a new kind of crime in such environments: homicide

On Nov. 9, Setianti Retno Dewi, 24, a freelance model and university student, was killed in her rented apartment at Mediterania Garden Apartment in West Jakarta.

She died after her make-up artist hit her on the head with a set of bathroom scales. It is reported that no neighbors knew her or heard their fight. Setianti's body was found two days later. It was the third murder in the apartment building this year.

University of Indonesia criminologist Adrianus Meliala sees the increasing number of crimes taking place in exclusive apartments as one of the consequences of the changing structure of Jakarta urban society, especially in middle- to high-class circles.

"Nowadays, there are more and more people who attain financial success at a young age," Adrianus said, adding that such a situation paved the way to increasing individualism.

Increasing crime closer to home, however, does not necessarily mean decreasing crime on traditional turf. The streets of Jakarta remain a place where residents should exercise caution.

As of October, the city police recorded more than 5,000 traffic accidents in Jakarta, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi, killing 823 people and injured more than 6,000 people. Of the accidents, 181 took place in busway lanes.

The National Police has estimated an average of 30,000 people die every year due to traffic accidents.

Meanwhile, in an operation run between Jan. 20 and Feb. 11 to eradicate thuggery and street crime in Greater Jakarta, the city police arrested 557 criminals for their involvement in cases such as pickpocketing, auto theft, gambling and violent robbery. Such cases, however, never stop worrying road users.

In a similar operation held during the last week of November, the police arrested 515 criminals for being involved in 199 street crimes.

City police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said street crimes would always be one of the major problems in a busy, densely populated city like Jakarta.

He said, however, it was not the police's job alone to tackle the problem and urged other parties, like local governments and social communities, to work hand in hand in creating more job opportunities or facilitating skills training for ex-criminals.