Police undertake measures vs shooting cases

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union -- The police personnel in Pangasinan province were ordered to intensify their checkpoint and patrol operations as well as their campaign against loose firearms due to reports that there were 19 shooting incidents last January.

Police regional director Ricardo Marquez issued the order as records showed that of the 39 shooting incidents in the whole Ilocos Region in January, at least 19 happened in Pangasinan.

Of the 19 shooting incidents, at least 14 occurred after the election gun ban started last January 13.

Marquez said the Regional Special Operations Task Group (RSTOG) just placed on review the security operations in various towns of Pangasinan and found out the 19 shooting incidents had no bearing with the mid-term elections this year.

All of shooting incidents were due to personal reasons, Marquez said.

The RSOTG called on all police chiefs in the areas where the shooting incidents happened to trace whether there were lapses that were committed and whether there was a need for the deployment of more policemen in different areas.

To date, a Special Action Force (SAF) team from Camp Crame, composed of 63 men and officers, is now in Pangasinan to increase the visibility of the police in crime-prone areas of the province.

Pangasinan is one of the 15 provinces in the entire country tagged as areas of concern by the police, not because of intense political rivalries but because of the high incidence of shooting incidents last year, Marquez said.

Marquez said the commanders are now analyzing the patterns of these crime incidents and found out that most of these were perpetrated by armed men riding in tandem.

Admitting that the killers riding in tandem on motorcycles is now a phenomenon not only in Ilocos Region but in the entire nation, Marquez said the police is now also conducting motorcycle anti-crime operations. (PNA)