THE bloody attack on the Hamparan Perak Police headquarters in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra showed that criminal acts have reached a worrying level. The attack in the early hours of Wednesday last week, reportedly involving 12 armed men, was a rare incident.

Police stations have been attacked by mobs, and even burned down—as in Munu, Buol regency, Central Sulawesi at the beginning of September. And police stations being wrecked by mobs are noth