Jakarta Police to Secure 1,807 Churches on Christmas Day

Jakarta – The Jakarta Metropolitan Police Command ready to secure churches on 2023 Christmas Day. Overall, thousands of churches will be guarded by police to prevent unwanted things. 

“1,807 Churches in Jakarta will be guarded by us,” said the Head of Public Relations of Jakarta Metropolitan Police Command Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko, on Saturday.

Andiko explained in detail the thousands of churches that would be guarded by the police, consisting of 138 churches in Central Jakarta, 287 churches in North Jakarta, 204 churches in West Jakarta, 126 churches in South Jakarta, and 171 churches in East Jakarta.

In addition, security was also carried out at 213 churches in Tangerang City, 277 churches in Bekasi City, 144 churches in Bekasi Regency, 165 churches in Depok, 81 churches in South Tangerang, and 1 church in the Soekarno-Hatta (Soetta) Airport area.

Later, thousands of churches will be guarded by 4,041 police personnel who will be alerted for Operation Lilin Jaya 2023.

Earlier, thousands of joint personnel and related stakeholders were deployed in Operation Lilin 2023, to secure the Christmas and New Year (Nataru) 2024 celebrations.

Operation will start for 12 days starting from December 22, 2023, and January 2, 2024.

"This operation involved 129,923 personnel consisting of Indonesian Police-Indonesian National Army (Polri-TNI) and other related stakeholders, who were stationed at 1,668 security posts, 670 service posts, and 113 integrated posts to ensure the security of 49,676 security objects," said Deputy Chief of Police Commissioner General, Agus Andrianto on Thursday.

According to Andrianto, the Nataru celebrations this time coincide with the campaign period so the potential for vulnerability is higher.

For this reason, he reminded the need to anticipate disturbances in security, safety, order, and smooth traffic, as well as security and public order which could potentially occur during the 2024 Christmas celebrations.

According to him, the National Police together with related stakeholders also issued a Work Order (SKP) which contains operational restrictions on goods transportation, placement of traffic engineering, traffic flow control, sea crossings, and travel delays.

To anticipate passenger density, departure schedules are arranged at public transport service points.

 “Encourage online ticket purchases, and entry and exit arrangements must be made together with relevant stakeholders. In addition, carry out foot patrols to prevent crimes from occurring," Andrianto concluded.