'Neighborhood watch’ eyed vs criminality

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Police authorities in Pampanga are planning to create a barangay and community-based “neighborhood watch” in the province to help curb criminality.

Pampanga Provincial Police Director R'win Pagkalinawan, in a dialogue with this city's homeowners association, said “peace and order is not the sole responsibility of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the local government units but of the entire community.”

“Everyone should guard one another’s property and safety to attain peace and order. We ask for your help in the fight against criminality in the province,” Pagkalinawan said.

He noted that the 1,100 policemen and women deployed in Pampanga “are not enough to protect all the two million civilians” and the “insufficiency” could be augmented by the “neighborhood watch” particularly in subdivisions residential villages.

“Through neighborhood watch, the community can report suspicious and unfamiliar people inside their area and the homeowners can act accordingly,” Pangkalinwan told Sun.Star Pampanga.

Governor Lilia Pineda said Capitol will ask barangay officials to pass a resolution on the “list of inhabitance,” where they can monitor the entry of strangers or “newcomers” in their areas.

“The neighborhood watch can be strengthened because the community will have a list of strangers in their area,” Pineda quipped, adding that the Provincial Government was willing to extend the P10 million funding of the city for CCTV cameras in strategic areas, if ever the need arises.

Meanwhile, San Fernando Police Chief Ric David vowed to increase police visibility in the city, particularly the stretch of MacArthur Highway in Barangay Dolores, following the spate of robberies in business establishments in the area.

The string of burglaries and holdups in the area has been alarming both residents in nearby villages and business along the avenue.

“Rest assured we will look into that immediately. Already, we are in the process of assessing CCTV footages of some incidents there as provided by the businessmen,” David said. (Jovi T. De Leon of Sun.Star Pampanga/Sunnex)