Thursday, February 07, 2008 Police forms group to go after hoodlums
THE Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) yesterday organized a team to run after street hoodlums.
CCPO Director Patrocinio Comendador said Anti-Street Hoodlums Operating Team (A-Shot) was primarily activated to solve street crimes, especially those involving gangs and fraternities in the city.
He said that during a recent meeting with his staff and other stakeholders to identify top peace and order concerns, fraternity or gang problems ranked fourth in the list. Other concerns they identified are drugs and the efforts to decrease crime incidence.
Street hoodlums, Comendador said, are members of gangs and fraternities who commit crimes.
“Once they violate the law, they become street hoodlums,” Comendador earlier said.
Comendador said the creation of the task force was “to address this concern and to prevent further bloodshed and violence.”
Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (CIIB) Chief George Ylanan has been designated as the A-Shot head.
Ylanan received yesterday the memorandum order on his designation as the task force head along with the names of his members.
Ylanan, in a separate interview, said the task force is composed of operatives from CIIB, Theft and Robbery Section and Homicide Section.
Comendador, however, said their duties and responsibilities in the task force are on top of their regular assignments.
Comendador came up with the idea last December because of their success in solving several fraternity-related crimes. He said he hopes to “keep the momentum.”
Last year, a CCPO team led by Supt. Pablo Labra II arrested Aristotle Aves, a suspected fraternity hitman and his alleged cohort Jesus Singson Jr., who is also a fraternity member.
Their names have been linked to several crimes in Metro Cebu.
Prior to the creation of the task force, the CCPO conducted profiling of some members and created a database of offenders linked to gangs and fraternities.
On top of a special team for street hoodlums, night watch patrols will continue, as the operation has been successful in preventing petty crimes, police said.
Meanwhile, a minor organizational reassignment was also implemented by Comendador yesterday.
Comendador designated Senior Insp. Patrocinio Abesia to take the post of Punta Princesa Police Station chief, replacing Supt. Anecito Perandos, who was appointed Guadalupe Police Station commander.
The reassignment, Comendador said, came about because of the impending retirement of Senior Insp. Natalio Nacario, former Guadalupe police chief. Nacario will retire before June. (JST)
