THE chief tanods of all 30 barangays of Lapu-Lapu City have organized themselves into an association and agreed to not let boundaries get in the way in the campaign against crime.

Lapu-Lapu City Councilor Leo Mercado, president of the city’s Association of Barangay Councils (ABC), said the newly-created Association of Chief of Tanods will hold office at the ABC building.

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The ABC building is adjacent to the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office so police can be tapped quickly during operations.

Operation

The chief tanods agreed to let any barangay tanod conduct operations against crime in any barangay in the city.

Mercado said that with the arrangement, barangay officials can’t protect criminals, especially their relatives, because other barangay officials can conduct operations in their community.

Mercado said they copied this policy from the program of the late Cebu City Police Office director Andres Sarmiento. He said Sarmiento’s program was effective in cutting off the protection enjoyed by criminals from barangay officials and even the police.

He said the association was organized after an election last week.

Intel network

The chief tanods are the primary officers who can mobilize the barangay intelligence network (BIN).

Acting Lapu-Lapu City Police Director Mariano Natuel had created his own BIN, which angered city officials. Natuel, however, eventually disbanded his BIN.

Mercado said things have improved with just a single BIN operating. He said the focus of the newly-created group of chief tanods is to deal with the resurgence of video carrera machines.