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Friday, February 18, 2005
Police: Hiring more cops not assurance of zero crime rate
By Raquel C. Bagnol
* Barangay-based anti-crime strategy to augment police force, General Virtus Gil says
HIRING more policemen to surpass the present ratio of one policeman for every 750 population is not an assurance of a zero-crime rate in the country or complete security from terrorist activities, said Philippine National Police (PNP) deputy chief for administration Virtus Gil Thursday.
"Our goal is to raise the ratio to one policeman for every 500 population but that would mean hiring an additional 45,000 policemen and that would be too expensive on the part of the government," said General Gil, who guested at the Minsupala Integrated Journalists Association (Mija) media forum at the Royal Mandaya hotel.
Gil said the PNP force is composed of 114,000 policemen but around 30,000 of them are performing collateral duties.
"This figure may seem big but with these 30,000 rendering administrative services, that leaves us with a conservative estimate of 84,000 policemen. With that number, thousands are on schooling, thousands more are sick and on leave so what's left is not even one policeman per barangay," Gil said.
Barangay-based
To augment the police force, Gil said the idea of the barangay-based anti-crime strategy was conceptualized.
"All the barangay captains are tasked to be responsible for their respective barangays so the policemen can focus on higher crimes but they can immediately call on the policemen for help," Gil added.
Not intel failure
On the recent simultaneous bombing incidents in Davao City, General Santos and in Makati, Gil said he does not believe there was a failure in intelligence network of the military and the police.
"The PNP and the military have so many units working together but in looking for these terrorists, its much easier to look for a needle in a haystack," Gil said.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here.
(February 18, 2005 issue)
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