Even though it hasn’t been officially released in Indonesia yet, Pokemon GO fever has swept across the country. The augmented reality smartphone game from Nintendo has addicted countless Indonesians and caused government officials to freak out over possible security breaches the app could cause.
While top officials fret over Pokemon hunters accidentally revealing state secrets, a much more realistic concern is that players may end up hurting themselves by having their eyes glued to their mobile screens while they are driving or wandering into traffic.
That concern was recently raised by Central Java Police Chief General Condro Kirono, who warned Pokemon hunters not to play while behind the wheels of their cars.
“Pokemon Go players that are out looking for pokemon while driving are very dangerous. Their concentration will be split between looking for a Pokemon and looking at the road,” Condro said on Monday as quoted by Tribunnews.
Condro said that he had instructed his officers to investigate the cause of all car accidents in his region to find out how many had been caused by players of the game.
When asked by a reporter about whether there were any police officers playing Pokemon GO, Condro said they they were banned from playing the game.
“I definitely forbid it, it can cause their work to be neglected. Those that say they are going out on patrol might actually just be going out to look for Pokemon. So I forbid my officers to play Pokemon Go,” he said.
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