Saturday, September 29, 2007 Complaints lead cops to ‘green’ detachment
POLICE officers who cannot seem to stay long in a post because of complaints about their attitude have been gathered in one detachment with a special assignment: to plant trees.
Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Carmelo Valmoria created a detachment in Barangay Kampoot, Tuburan town as an “extension” of the Provincial Security and Service Group.
Insp. Samuel Vercide has been tasked to head the detachment, which Supt. Erson Digal has called an “administrative holding center.”
Kampoot is a mountain barangay, some seven kilometers away from the main highway.
It is the village that outgoing Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Silverio Alarcio Jr. has focused on rehabilitating.
Alarcio has said they plan to reverse the situation in Kampoot by bringing services to the people there and planting trees.
Traveling to the village takes an hour because of the muddy road. Those without a four-wheel-drive vehicle have to hire a habal-habal to reach the area.
Digal said those who will be assigned at the detachment are those who have constantly been relieved and have difficulty securing posts because they are often rejected by local government units due to complaints.
Anti-insurgency
He added that instead of letting them sit around the headquarters without duties but collecting their salary, it was better to make them productive.
Aside from greening the village, Kampoot is also known as an area influenced by insurgency.
Placing a detachment will also help them monitor strange movements of suspected rebels.
Vercide, for his part, said he was ready to start his new assignment.
Yesterday, he already asked for available long firearms to equip his personnel.
He was also told to strictly look over the attendance of his men to make sure they were not absent from their duties. (MEA)
