Indonesia’s police change strategy for tackling forest and land fires

Indonesia’s police say they can no longer wait for forest and land fires to appear before responding. Deputy National Police Chief Dedi Prasetyo is calling for a broader approach that combines prediction, prevention, technology, community participation, ecological measures, emergency response, law enforcement and crisis communication.

The strategy formed part of Prasetyo’s briefing for 322 personnel assigned to the second wave of an education, outreach and prevention task force. The group includes participants from several police leadership and training programs, along with 22 supervisors. They will spend 10 days in South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and East Kalimantan.

Prasetyo said the personnel should not limit their work to public education. "Do not come only for outreach. You are middle and top managers. Look at how the organization works, the conditions in the region, how policies are implemented and what is still lacking," he said.

He also urged the police to use predictive policing by combining hotspot data, weather information, groundwater levels, peatland conditions, fire history and tools such as drones, satellites and artificial intelligence. The data, he said, should guide priority areas and allow resources to move before fires expand.

The article said authorities had recorded 113,616 hotspots and 202,010 hectares of burned land in 38 provinces by Sept. 6, 2026. August recorded the highest number of hotspots, at 58,243, followed by 38,237 in September. Of the total, 23,228 hotspots had been verified as fires, 26,302 remained unverified and 64,086 were determined not to be fires. Firefighting action had been taken at 18,085 locations.

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