A JURIDICAL ANALYSIS OF CRIMINAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGAINST INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF THE INDONESIAN NATIONAL POLICE WHO COMMIT GENERAL CRIMINAL OFFENCES WITHIN THE NORTH SUMATRA REGIONAL POLICE

Trilestaria Simbolon (Universitas Pembangunan Panca Budi)
Abdul Rahman Maulana Siregar (Universitas Pembangunan Panca Budi)
Rahmayanti (Universitas Pembangunan Panca Budi)

Multidiciplinary Output Research for Actual and International Issue (Morfai Journal)
Vol. 6 No. 6 (2026): Multidiciplinary Output Research For Actual and International Issue

Police officers who themselves engage in ordinary crimes create a distinctive problem for the justice system, since the people tasked with upholding the law turn into offenders. In the North Sumatra Regional Police area, a number of recent fraud incidents implicating POLRI officers have drawn public scrutiny and prompted doubts about whether every person is truly treated alike under the law. The purpose of this article is to examine which criminal law rules govern POLRI officers accused of ordinary crimes and how those rules are put into practice in North Sumatra. Methodologically, the article combines doctrinal legal analysis with supporting empirical material, drawing on legislation, legal concepts, and actual cases; the sources were gathered from written materials and interpreted qualitatively. The analysis shows that, by virtue of Article 29 of Law Number 2 of 2002, officers accused of ordinary crimes fall under the authority of the ordinary judiciary. Parallel to prosecution, they may face internal discipline and ethics sanctions, which add to rather than substitute for criminal punishment. Nevertheless, several barriers persist in practice, namely institutional solidarity, opaque internal inquiries, and weak cooperation between criminal investigators and Propam. For these reasons, the article argues for more robust outside supervision, greater openness, and an explicit statement that internal penalties never remove criminal responsibility, so that confidence in the police can be restored.