Indonesia’s deputy police chief urges shift from reactive to multi-approach wildfire policing

Indonesia’s deputy national police chief is calling for a fundamental change in the way the country handles forest and land fires. Instead of reacting after flames appear, police should use a “multi-approach policing” model built around prediction, prevention, technology, community involvement, ecology, emergency response, law enforcement and crisis communication.

Dedi Prasetyo presented the strategy on Monday in Jakarta while briefing 322 members of the second wave of an education, outreach and prevention task force. The group includes 64 Sespimti participants, 207 Sespimmen participants, 29 SPPK participants and 22 supervisors. They will spend 10 days in South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and East Kalimantan.

Another 189 trainees had already been deployed. Dedi said the new group should not simply conduct outreach, but also examine and audit how fire management works in the field. “Do not come only for outreach. You are middle and top managers. See how the organization works, what conditions are like in the region, how policy is implemented and what is still lacking,” he said.

“

Do not come only for outreach. You are middle and top managers. See how the organization works, what conditions are like in the region, how policy is implemented and what is still lacking.

He urged officers to develop predictive policing by combining hotspot data with weather conditions, groundwater levels, peatland conditions and previous fires. Drones, satellites and artificial intelligence should help identify priority areas and move resources before fires spread.

By Sept. 6, authorities had recorded 113,616 hotspots and 202,010 hectares of burned land across 38 provinces. August recorded the highest monthly total, with 58,243 hotspots, followed by 38,237 in September. Of all recorded hotspots, 23,228, or 20.4 percent, had been verified as fires, while 26,302 remained unverified and 64,086 were classified as non-fires. Firefighting had been carried out at 18,085 points.

Dedi also stressed that policing must address peatland conditions. Groundwater data showed highly vulnerable levels in several regions, including Central Kalimantan at minus 143 centimeters, West Kalimantan at minus 163 centimeters, South Sumatra at minus 231.1 centimeters, East Kalimantan at minus 142.6 centimeters, Riau at minus 209 centimeters and North Kalimantan at minus 137 centimeters. “Do not only chase the fire. If the root problem is dry peatland, we must fix the water management,” he said.

“

Do not only chase the fire. If the root problem is dry peatland, we must fix the water management.