CAGAYAN de Oro City Mayor Constantino Jaraula admitted on Monday that the city is way below par as far as the number of police personnel needed for a highly urbanized city like Cagayan de Oro.

Jaraula said ideally Cagayan de Oro should have at least 1,600 police personnel for the city’s 800,000 residents.

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"That would be the supposed ideal number of police personnel for a highly urbanized city like Cagayan de Oro," Jaraula said.

Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (Cocpo) only has 720 regular police personnel as reported by City Police Director Noel Armilla.

Armilla had said that the number of policemen is highly inadequate especially since Cocpo has instituted a program boosting police visibility in crime prone areas.

"Supposedly we should have one policeman for every 500 population but as of now wala na siya natuman," Armilla had said.

To cut the shortage of police personnel, Police Regional Office (PRO) 10 have had to send some 47 police recruits to Cocpo to augment the city’s police which has also began implementing the police beat system.

Under the system, policemen-buddies are made to patrol designated areas on foot and by shifts.

Shifts start at 7 a.m. and end at 3 in the afternoon to be followed by another shift until 11 p.m. Police stations will then have to pick up the slack left by the night shift.

The police have also been implementing the so-called integrated patrol system in which police visibility is strengthened specifically on banks and neighboring establishments.

Despite the lack of policemen, Jaraula said the police is still on top of the situation as far as crime prevention and crime solution are concerned.

Last Monday morning, some 16 Police Inspectors were presented to Jaraula before they begin field work as part of their training.

Jaraula said the additional policemen is sure to help COCPO.

"Beyond that what we need is 85 percent performance kay mag-unsa man kung naa kay 100 pero 60 percent lang ang performance so wala gihapon," Jaraula said. (ALR)

Published in the Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro newspaper on July 4, 2009.