Disciplinary action against police officers involved in abuse of power and other crimes often falls far short of the general public's sense of justice. Unlike civilians, who have to undergo long legal processes in courts, many police officers merely face internal disciplinary hearings. And the light punishment frequently imposed on such "criminal police officers" obviously does not have a deterrent effect. As a result, we civilians often become victims of police officers who are easily committed to violence or abusing their power in the course of duty.

There have been many examples of such bad practices. Fifteen-year-old Muhammad Rifki Hidayatullah was reportedly detained with a bullet in his leg for at least 15 days after being shot by a Koja Police officer in North Jakarta. The surgery was carried out on Dec. 15, after his family visited him in his cell a day before.

The punishment for the officers involved in the incident was simply to re-assign them to other divisions, plus a few days in detention. Similar punishment was imposed on officers who attacked J.J. Rizal, a lecturer at the University of Indonesia, last month after he was wrongly arrested, and another on police officers involved in the shooting death of Subagio, 35, a public minivan driver, in Depok, south of Jakarta, who was accused of gambling with fellow drivers.

It is regrettable that these police officers were only charged with violating police discipline, even though there were strong indications they had committed crimes against all their victims while carrying out their duties.

Responding to the call from Subagio's widow to dismiss all the officers involved in the shooting of her husband, Depok Police deputy chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Ahmad Subarkah said the disciplinary hearing could only hand out administrative punishment.

"If the district court finds any police officers guilty, we can dismiss them. Such a decision is made at a police profession hearing," he said.

Unfortunately, many victims of power abuse by police officers are reluctant to report their cases for various reasons. First, these victims for the most part do not know the procedure for filing their cases. Second, many still fear having to deal with police officers. And third, they are just skeptical the police will handle their cases fairly.

In dealing with all these problems, we recommend the establishment of an independent institution, outside the police force, which has the authority to investigate any wrongdoings committed by police officers. Such an institution should have representatives in all districts across the country to help people at all levels of society who have problems with the police. Such an institution, together with civil society, should have a program to empower the people to dare to report their cases.

Therefore the government needs to include the formation of such an institution in its reform program for the National Police, to ensure the reform, which will reportedly kick off next year, does not just end with better remuneration for all police personnel, but can also help change the behavior and attitude of police officers.