Saturday, December 23, 2006 Cops told: celebrate in precincts
CELEBRATE Christmas by having parties in your respective precincts, but avoid drinking hard liquor, or even beer.
Acting Cebu City Police Director Melvin Gayotin issued this radio message yesterday, as well as a reminder to all police precincts to prioritize attending to citizens’ complaints—even during Christmas parties.
The sight of policemen drinking hard liquor inside the precincts discourages complainants from approaching the desk, Gayotin pointed out.
“They are our frontliners, and it wouldn’t be good to see them drinking in the precincts,” he said.
The Cebu City Police Office headquarters at Camp Sotero Cabahug had their party last Thursday, which coincided with the parties of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 and the Cebu Provincial Police Office.
But some of the precincts have yet to hold their own parties.
Before Gayotin’s reminder arrived, some police sections and precincts at the CCPO already had their gun muzzles sealed last Wednesday and Thursday.
The Waterfront Police Station personnel sealed their firearms with masking tape and had these signed by their commander, Supt. Pedrillo Villamor, last Wednesday. The operations section, on the other hand, sealed their firearms Thursday morning.
The rest of the police stations are expected to follow suit today.
Placing tape on the muzzles of their guns is meant to ensure that the police do not indiscriminately fire their firearms during the Christmas and New Year revelry.
The tape, signed by the policemen’s immediate superiors, will serve as a “tamper-proof seal” that can only be broken during legal operations.
The practice was first imposed during the stint of former PRO 7 chief Avelino Razon Jr. (JST)
