Top cop defends Densus 88’s shoot-to-kill policy

Bagus BT Saragih, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | National | Tue, May 14 2013, 9:27 PM

National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo is defending the use of deadly force by the police officers against suspected terrorists.

“We always maximize our efforts to keep everybody alive in our operations, not only the suspects, but also our personnel and other civilians, Timur said after attending a Cabinet meeting at the State Palace on Tuesday. “However, there has to be a prioritization if real threats come our way.”

Questions about the use of deadly force were raised when traffic police officers in Tasikmalaya, West Java, shot dead a suspect terrorist on Monday night.

The man, who fled after a bomb he threw at a police substation failed to explode, was shot dead after attempting to fire at officers with a homemade pistol that jammed, police said.

 Timur said that the Tasikmalaya attack showed that terrorist groups had no qualms about attacking the police.

“Such threats will always exist. If the threat is considered dangerous to the life of a police officer or civilian, we must take immediate action to paralyze the suspects,” he said.  

The police chief’s comments come after officers from the Densus 88 counterterrorism unit killed sevenand arrested 13 in raids last week.

Haris Azhar from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) previously urged the police to explain why officers killed some of the suspects.

“They must be able to prove that the slain suspects were dangerous enough if not be shot dead,” Haris said.(dic)