Saturday, August 09, 2008 Integrated patrol plan for night workers launched
TO DETER criminal elements from preying on late night workers especially call center agents and commuters, police authorities on Friday launched an integrated patrol plan that would see policemen and traffic personnel working the beat side by side at Makati’s business district and surrounding areas.
A joint project of the Makati Police Department (MPD) and the Makati Public Safety Department (Mapsa), the plan dubbed “Integrated Patrol and Commuters Safety Zone” would see the establishment of 15 integrated patrols and five commuter safety zones along the main thoroughfares of the locality which will be jointly manned by uniformed policemen and traffic personnel 24 hours a day.
“This project is designed to protect employees and commuters especially those working during night and graveyard shift against criminal elements such as snatching and robbery hold-up gangs,” Makati Police Chief Gilbert Cruz said during the launching attended by Southern Police District (SPD) Director Luizo Ticman, Mapsa director Hermenegildo San Miguel and representatives from the business community.
Cruz said the integrated patrol centers would be established along Guadalupe Loyola, Paseo De Roxas/Gil Puyat, Makati Avenue/JP Rizal Street, Ayala Avenue, Gil Puyat Avenue, Gil Puyat Avenue/Pasong Tamo, Makati Avenue/Gil Puyta Avenue, Gil Puyat/South Superhighway, Ayala Avenue/Paseo De Roxas, Ayala Avenue/Hotel Drive, JP Rizal St/Sampaguita-Comembo, Makati Avenue/Paseo De Roxas, Pasong Tamo/ Arnaiz St.,Gil Puyat/Bautista St., Makati Avenue/Ayala Avenue and Pasong Tamo/Mantrade.
The five commuter safety zones are located at Gil Puyat Avenue/Pasong Tamo, Ayala Avenue/Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati Avenue/Gil Puyat Avenue, Gil Puyat/South Superhighway and 6750 Ayala Avenue.
The Makati police chief said the idea is to “saturate” the area with increased police visibility to deter crimes and to increase the “response time” of the authorities in case of emergencies.
“Our response to crimes will now be faster since Mapsa will no longer have to call for police assistance should the need arise because the police is already there with them in their regular patrol duties,” said Cruz.
A policeman on beat patrol will be accompanied by at least two Mapsa personnel, said San Miguel.
Aside from crime prevention, the joint patrols would also respond to traffic accidents and other similar incidents in their respective localities, he added.
Although the city has a low crime rate, Cruz said they are focusing on “blind spots,” in which incidents especially petty crimes are not reported to the police by the victims.
“We admit that there are cases especially those perpetrated against night-shift workers such as snatching that do not get reported because the victim wanted to do away with the hassle since they just want to rest after work,” the official said.
Last month, unidentified thieves robbed 13 call center agents on board a passenger bus on their way to work along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (Edsa) in the city. The robbers immediately alighted at Gil Puyat Avenue, carting away undetermined amount of cash and valuable things.
Earlier, the Makati police appealed to call center companies and other businesses operating at night to beef up their security because criminals have now shifted to victimizing night-shift workers.
"Though there is still no major case of robbery in call centers in Makati City, we would just like to warn the different call center companies and their agents that robbers are on the hunt for them," Cruz said.
The advisory was made after robbers victimized a call center company located in a mall in Cainta, Rizal last month.
To avert these kinds of incident, Cruz said he had already notified different Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies and call centers in Makati for them to implement a much stricter security measures to thwart robbers from executing their operations.
"Why should we wait for tomorrow? It is better for us to warn them at this early stage so that they can come up with a more stringent security policy. In the end, everybody will benefit from it," he said.
Records of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) showed that Makati City remains to be the leading hub of BPO and call centers in the country, housing at least 146 BPO companies and 72 call centers.
The city was followed by Pasig City with 73 BPO companies and 44 call centers and Quezon City with 63 BPO centers and 34 call center companies. (AH/Sunnex)
