Tuesday, January 23, 2007 PNP members to get training on crime scene preservation
THE Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) will hold a seminar on crime scene preservation following last Saturday’s incident where a rookie policewoman died of gunshot wounds inside a comfort room.
The death of 26-year-old Karesh M. Valenzuela, a field training policewoman (FTP) from Western Visayas, has raised questions on the capability of responding policemen in preserving the crime scene while waiting for the Scene of the Crime Operation (Soco) team to arrive.
Yellow lines
Acting Cebu City Police Director Patrocinio Comendador told a press conference yesterday that the police stations and special units should have police lines or the yellow lines to cordon off crime scenes.
Comendador said the Mobile Patrol Group (MPG) should be among the first units to be given these police lines since they are usually the first to be sent to the crime scene.
During last Saturday’s incident, there was no police line at the female comfort room of the La Fortuna Bakeshop inside the Basilica del Sto. Nińo compound where Valenzuela’s body was found with gunshot wounds in the head.
The police lines were only placed when the Soco personnel arrived more than an hour later.
Comendador said he had also ordered the Homicide Section to invite the two FTPs from Region 7 to explain why they took Valenzuela’s 9mm service firearm at the crime scene and turned this over to the Waterfront Police Station.
If there is a need to file an administrative case against the two rookie policemen, he said, the CCPO will do so to “set an example.”
Comendador said the seminar, which is yet to be scheduled, will focus on the responsibilities of the first responders and a refresher on police operational procedures.
Comendador said the Homicide Section is still looking for Valenzuela’s cellular phone, which remains missing until now.
Homicide Section Chief Mario Monilar said they are still looking at all angles in the case, including accidental firing and suicide.
Monilar said they are still waiting for the results of the autopsy, and the paraffin and ballistic tests by the regional crime laboratory.
Meanwhile, Valenzuela’s body was brought to her hometown in Dumarao, Capiz through a commercial plane.
A requiem mass at 10 a.m. was held at the St. Ignatius de Loyola Chapel inside the regional police headquarters at the Camp Sotero Cabahug. (JST)
