Indonesia - The Indonesian National Police (INP) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a range of community representatives in the latest IOM-supported effort to anchor significant new policing initiatives in Indonesia’s West Papua province.

A day-long workshop on October 9, the first of its kind in Manokwari, West Papua, brought together INP officers, civil society, academics, the military and representatives of youth- and faith-based organizations in an effort to foster better relations between local police and local communities.

“This MOU is further acknowledgement of the INP’s commitment to improve relations between law enforcement and local communities,” said IOM deputy chief of mission Steve Hamilton. “IOM and its donors have supported the national police’s successful investment in training more than 23,000 of its officers across the country in recent years.”

With the financial support of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, IOM and the INP in 2013 launched the third phase of their institution-building efforts covering the provinces of Papua, West Papua and Maluku. This tripartite relationship began with earlier successful community policing and human rights training projects in West Java, East Java, West Kalimantan and Aceh provinces that reached over 17,800 INP officers.

The project helps the 415,000-strong INP provide its officers with the knowledge and skills to roll-out its community-based policing strategy while at the same time building awareness about community rights, roles and responsibilities.

The current project has trained 3,700 officers in Papua and West Papua provinces, and a further 1,700 in Maluku province. The programme also supported the establishment of “Community Police Pillars” in 12 districts, 12 sub-districts and 24 villages in the three target provinces. Community Policing Pillars provide a communications forum for police and community leaders to exchange information, and establish policing priorities.

At the national level, IOM has helped the INP to harmonize three previously separate regulations on community policing into a single umbrella regulation that was issued earlier this year, and covered the printing of 30,000 copies of the new regulation to be disseminated nationally.

IOM also assisted the development of a unified national training module for community policing for officers across Indonesia. This national training module was later contextualized specifically for Papua, West Papua and Maluku by incorporating aspects of local wisdom and culture, and addressing specific concerns like HIV/AIDS and drug and alcohol abuse.

For further information please contact Paul Dillon at IOM Jakarta, Tel. +62 811 944 4612, Email: pdillon@iom.int