Saturday, December 08, 2007 Patrol cops wear Santa hats
THIS Christmas season, expect a livelier bunch of beat patrol police officers on the streets of Cebu City.
Instead of donning the usual pershing cap or the ball cap, policemen on the streets will be wearing bright red Santa Claus hats. And it doesn’t stop there.
Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Ronald Roderos and Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Patrocinio Comen-dador Jr. sent 32 beat patrol policemen out with Christmas bags loaded with candies to give to children in the city’s slum areas.
“We render service without anticipating or expecting something in return,” Comendador said, adding that he wants his men to show the same generosity that Santa Claus is famed for.
Roderos explained that this is part of PNP Chief Avelino Razon Jr.’s “Mamang Pulis” project, which is aimed at improving the image of the Philippine National Police by being “courteous, respectful, responsive and citizen-friendly.”
To make it more appealing to the Cebuanos, Roderos has dubbed the project “Noy Pulis” while Comendador wants to call it “Bai Pulis.”
“When I was a child, I believed in Santa Claus. Today, I believe, also, in Santa Cops,” Roderos said.
Asked if the beat policemen would not be ridiculed, Comendador is confident the public’s response will be positive.
“We do not react to that(ridicule). But the initial reaction we got was very good. They were happy that the police look different and friendly,” Comendador told reporters.
Roderos hopes to replicate this in the province and other parts of the region, especially in crowded areas.
After distributing the hats, Roderos, Comendador and deputy city director Supt. Pablo Labra II went outside the gates of Camp Sotero Cabahug along Gorordo Ave. in Cebu City and started distributing candies to children.
“The objective of this activity is to bring the policemen closer to the people despite the negative feedback we get from them about some policemen,” said Labra.
The project is funded by the National Police Commission’s regional office.
“Na-surprise mi. Karon pa mi kita ug pulis nga nag-ingon ana (I was surprised. I’ve never seen a policeman looking like that before),” a man on the street said.
Students on a jeepney shouted “Merry Christmas!” at the cops in red.
A mother also graciously received some candies from Roderos. “That’s ok. It’s Christmas, after all,” she said when asked what she thought about the police officers donning Santa hats.
Though they want to be citizen-friendly, Roderos warned that the unit still means business when it comes to peace and order.
He pointed out that the Santa Cops’ head, Senior Insp. David Señor, won second runner-up in the recently held Chief PNP Cup shoot fest.
Roderos also congratulated the CCPO for its decreasing index crime volume.
For January to November, index crime in Cebu City dropped by as much as 37 percent compared to the same period last year, Roderos said.
He noted that there was a 37 percent decrease in the number of theft cases, 44 percent decrease in robbery cases, 60 percent decrease in murder cases and 55 percent decrease in homicide cases.
However, Roderos said the constant decrease should not be a reason for them “to rest on their laurels,” saying they have to anticipate an upsurge in crimes this Christmas season.
He assured that as the public go on their Christmas and New Year breaks, the policemen will be on duty and on red alert. (MEA/ With intern Caren Mae Pagalaran of La Salle University-Ozamiz City)
