Jakarta – Indonesian police have suggested that local journalists receive special training and shooting lessons to help them with the accuracy of their reporting, the official Antara news agency reported yesterday. "If you need it, you can have shooting training with the riot police in order that you know that to shoot is not easy so that you are not always attacking the police if they make a mistake," national police spokesman Brigadier-General Trimada Dani said.

Police in Jakarta have shot dead at least 70 criminals so far this year compared with 46 the whole of last year. They said the victims – almost always repeat offenders – were shot while trying to resist arrest or escape from custody, and insisted that police always fired warning shots before aiming for the body.

Brig-Gen Trimada said during a social gathering on Tuesday that the shooting training would make them less cynical about reporting that the police were "bad shots".