Jakarta – National Police (Polri) Chief Da'i Bachtiar said here Wednesday (27 April) setting up police stations in conflict areas and regions bordering other countries was to be have top priority in Polri's physical development programmes.

The areas which will get first priority in the establishment of police stations are located in Aceh, East Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, East Nusatenggara, Papua, Maluku, North Maluku and Poso, Bachtiar said when dedicating a number of Polri's physical development projects.

"In Aceh alone, Polri has set up 11 police stations at district level and 200 stations at subdistrict level which have been completed with standardized facilities," the police chief said.

Although several buildings, operational vehicles and communication means were damaged by the 26 December tsunami in Aceh, development and procurement of support facilities in the conflict area continued, he said.

"In North Maluku, we have built the headquarters of provincial police while the provincial administration has yet to set up buildings for the prosecutor's office and the governor's office," Bachtiar said.

In Gorontalo, Bangka Belitung and Banten provinces, Polri has set up preparatory provincial police offices, he said, adding that the Banten police have even had an adequate building with complete support facilities.

He further said when a conflict occurred in Morowali, West Sulawesi, the police could overcome it as there have been the Morowali district police with adequate facilities.

"We will establish many buildings for police stations to serve the people better and the Polri headquarters will only deal with strategic policies while crimes in general would be handled by the provincial, district and subdistrict police quarters," he said.

He said Polri has given priority to the procurement of operational vehicles and communication means in the past three years, and it will prioritize physical development as of this year.

[BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific.]