Wednesday, May 30, 2007 Checkpoints part of school opening preparations
AFTER passing the test of extra duties during the elections, Cebu’s police force is preparing for more checkpoints and keeping a wary eye on youth gangs to keep the school opening crime-free.
The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) held a command conference yesterday afternoon and laid down measures to secure thousands of students who will be attending school in June.
It wants to avoid a repeat of the fatal attack on a 19-year-old computer science major of the University of Cebu last September.
Carmela Cabañog was shot dead during a jeepney robbery. Her death prompted the Police Regional Office 7 to randomly assign secret marshals or covert policemen to secure passenger jeepneys.
For its part, the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) has prepared Oplan Balik-Skwela and is in its second phase of operations: more checkpoints to search public transportation.
Supt. Erson Digal, CPPO deputy provincial director for operations, told reporters yesterday the operational plan has three phases.
The first was for police stations to identify probable targets of criminal elements and identify local contacts of criminal groups that would take advantage of the arrival of students.
The second phase is to conduct checkpoints on all public utility vehicles.
24 hours
Twenty-four-hour checkpoints will be conducted throughout Cebu Province so the police can look out for criminal elements wanting to prey on students.
Police stations will also be creating police assistance centers in major schools while barangay tanods and other “force multipliers” will be organized to help secure the schools.
If principals see the need for policemen inside the schools, Digal said they are willing to provide security details.
He also assured that they have reserve teams on standby at the CPPO headquarters should their services be needed anywhere in the province.
The third phase will be an assessment of their performance.
Digal said the Province has been placed on heightened alert in preparation for the school opening. He assured that all police chiefs have been informed of the plan and ordered to implement it.
He added that they have also coordinated with the Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Ports Authority and the Maritime Group to help secure seaports, where students from other provinces are expected to arrive.
Fraternities
With the opening of the school year, police are anticipating more fraternity-related and gang violence. They are also on the lookout for more robberies and pickpocketing incidents that victimize students.
Comendador, for his part, said he directed the community relations section to strengthen links with schools, especially those known to have fraternity members.
He, however, said that in dealing with fraternity-related incidents, the CCPO will focus on the individual member’s offense and not on the fraternity as a whole.
“We have to isolate fraternity members who are doing good in the group,” he said.
Since the practice of fielding secret marshals in Cebu City has been stopped, Comendador told reporters that an anti-robbery and theft task force has been created to focus on snatching and jeepney robberies.
Night watch
CCPO deputy director for operations Pablo Labra II was designated as task force head.
Comendador said that members of the task force may board jeepneys if they see the need to do so.
Expanded “Night Watch” operatives will also be in full force to augment members of the Mobile Patrol Group so it can maintain visibility and conduct roving patrols at night.
Comendador said another team will be added to the two teams that already compose the “Night Watch.” The third team will be composed of miscellaneous teams from police stations.
Members of “Night Watch” teams are policemen required to render night duties once a week on top of their daytime duties. (MEA/JST)
