Bridging Operational Gaps: A Thematic Analysis of Police Disaster Management Practices in Aceh, Indonesia
Bustani (a), Rina Suryani Oktari (b*), Budi Arianto (c)

a) Graduate Program in Disaster Science, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia
b) Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Syiah Kuala and Tsunami & Disaster Mitigation Research Center (TDMRC), Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia
*okta[at]usk.ac.id
c) Department of Indonesian Language and Literature Education, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Syiah Kuala and Tsunami & Disaster Mitigation Research Center (TDMRC), Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia

Abstract

While the roles and responsibilities of police in disaster preparedness and emergency response have been legislated, there is a lack of empirical evidence as regards how police personnel interpret and operationalize these roles. This article examines the role of police in disaster management in Aceh Province, a region highly exposed to hydrometeorological and geological hazards. A qualitative exploratory design was adopted, in which seven (7) senior and mid-level police officers engaged in disaster operations at both provincial and district levels participated in in-depth semi-structured interviews. Braun and Clarke^s method of thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings show that police officers have good contextual knowledge and high motivation for emergency response with effective coordination, yet there are still significant inconsistencies in the distribution of training, very limited specialist equipment, delayed information flows, and low collaboration during preparedness phases. This study suggest that enhancement of police preparedness for disasters requires not only structural improvement but also integration of frontline experiential knowledge into institutional planning and policymaking. These insights contribute to the improvement of multi-agency disaster governance and to the advance of comparative research into policing in disaster contexts.

Keywords: Police- Disaster Management- Interagency Coordination- Organizational Capacity- Risk Governance

Topic: Coastal and Urban Disaster Risk Management