The challenge of criminal investigation in the global south: a study of detectives in south Jakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

Criminal investigation is a core police activity (Dean, 1995) of finding and collecting evidence and other information leading to arrest a suspect (Glomseth & Gottschalk, 2005). This topic is rarely researched compared with other topics in the police field (Brodeur, 2010). To contribute to the literature of the Global South, which might be different from the literature in western countries, this study will focus on the challenge of criminal investigation detectives face in South Jakarta, Indonesia. It describes criminal investigation, its methods, and the nature of the work. The research was conducted using semi-structured interviews with detectives in South Jakarta Metropolitan Police Resort who have more than three years of experience there. This research produced a number of key findings. First, the study finds that criminal investigation processes and methods used out in Indonesia were similar to those employed in the United Kingdom. The stages and the way of doing them are the same even though the law applies and the terms of the investigation are different. Furthermore, the important point is that detectives in South Jakarta only really learned and knew how to carry out criminal investigations after they joined the criminal investigation department because at the academy, they were only taught the basics. This differs from conditions in the United Kingdom, where information can be accessed freely through literature books, journals or articles. Second, the study illuminates the challenges of criminal investigation in the context of its techniques and methods. It explains the challenge of investigative interviewing, which aims to get empathy from the victim and witnesses and to make the suspect confess in interrogation. Third, it analyses the challenge of profiling the offender due to the lack of a criminal information database and the core challenge of covert policing technique to gain the trust of the operating target. The last finding is about the institutional challenge of criminal investigation in South Jakarta, where the fundamental difference between Global South countries and western countries is their economic conditions. In the Global South, street crimes are more often caused by economic factors. The perpetrators commit these crimes to meet their daily living needs. In addition, detective cultural factors pose a challenge for implementing criminal investigation from both external and internal factors. External factor includes the fact that some people are indeed resistant to the police, so investigation and extracting information from those people will be difficult.

Internal factors include the canteen culture and also a cop’s code governing the relationship between detectives. The challenge from internal factors is that young detectives just entering criminal investigation departments need to immediately adapt to the detective's work culture so they can avoid social sanctions.