Saturday, October 07, 2006 Install alarm system: police, mayor to firms
A TEAM from the Theft and Robbery Section passed by the Asialink Finance Corp. on Gen. Maxilom Ave., Cebu City on its way to respond to the first robbery on A1 Micro Finance Inc. on Osmeña Blvd. last Thursday.
They did not know that Asialink was already being robbed.
Close to P180,000 was taken from both firms.
TRS Chief Ambrosio Ibones said the police could have stopped the second robbery had lending and banking establishments heeded earlier suggestions that they invest in security and alarm systems.
Ibones lamented that establishments victimized by robbers have not learned lessons from previous heists that hit the city.
He said that even a blinking light to get their attention would have helped them catch robbers in the act.
Bankers do not want an alarm system, Ibones said, because they fear this will stir up robbers and turn a simple robbery into a hostage situation.
Ibones said the alarm system need not be an elaborate one.
A simple switch that could be secretly pressed to light up a blinker outside will be a big help, as passersby and neighboring establishments will notice this and inform authorities.
At City Hall, Mayor Tomas Osmeña defended the police against criticism on their failure to prevent robberies, saying no one can anticipate when and where robbers will strike next.
He said the City Government already came up with an alarm system, but banks, which he considered priority establishments, did not subscribe to the system.
Mars
This is why he is offering it to other businesses. Through an advertisement, the mayor will ask those firms whose transactions involve large sums to avail themselves of the City’s Mobile Alarm Remote System (Mars).
The Cebu City Council in November last year approved the setting up of Mars and its prioritization scheme.
Those in category A are banks and financial institutions while those in category B are individuals and so-called “non-sensitive” establishments.
The mayor earlier explained that if both categories issue alarms at the same time, police will prioritize the one in category A. Mars works by hooking up subscribers’ mobile phones to a central system at City Hall. It assures that an alarm reaches authorities three seconds after it is raised.
The mayor said the system works even if robbers cut off telephone and power lines and, by pressing a single key, “the whole universe will know” of the emergency.
Response
He said Cebu City police are “well-trained and highly motivated” and the command has good snipers and a Special Weapons and Tactics team.
Although the PNP has new equipment and vehicles, these are not an assurance that no robberies will take place anymore.
Yesterday, Police Coordinating and Advisory Council (PCAC) members agreed that response capability and personnel deployment of police stations and even the headquarters need to be re-assessed.
PCAC, through the office of City Councilor Procopio Fernandez, will visit and evaluate the programs of each station.
Vice Mayor Michael Rama, PCAC head, said he does not want to think that policemen are remiss in their duties, but added recent crimes were “a cause for worry.”
He mentioned the killing of two college students and a utility man working for the customs bureau Wednesday last week, about 200 meters away from the Parian Police Station.
Rama said there might be a need to “go back to basic” police work, especially on roving duties.
In a separate interview, TRS Chief Ibones explained that the gaps in reporting the crime always affect their pursuit efforts.
He admitted that there was no specific group that they could point to, but said he has not encountered a local group who can pull off such heists.
Traffic
Police earlier received reports of the presence of a Mindanao-based robbery group last week and even warned business establishments about this.
He said the way the heist was pulled reminded him of how the robbery on the Cinderella Money-changer Shop on Gorordo Ave. was executed last March.
However, he said the shop had a surveillance camera and they were able to identify some of the robbers and filed a case.
Ibones said they showed pictures of some of the noted robbers based in Mindanao, but employees of both Asialink and A1 Micro Finance were unable to identify them as the culprits.
He is not completely sold to the idea that the same persons who robbed A1 Micro Finance were the same ones who pulled off the heist in Asialink.
He pointed out that there was the distance to consider and the heavy traffic during that time.
“The perpetrators may be part of the same group but they pulled off different robberies,” Ibones said. (MEA/RHM)
