CHIEF Supt. Debold Sinas, the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 director, ordered the formation of scene of the crime operation (SOCO) teams for Metro Cebu and Cebu Province.

Sinas said he wants a systematic gathering of evidence from crime scenes. Before his transfer to PRO 7, he was the chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP)-Crime Laboratory.

He dissolved the Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) of the Cebu City Police Office and transferred more than 20 personnel to the SOCO team of the Regional Crime Laboratory Office (RCLO) 7.

“The scientific investigation for the PNP side is with the crime lab,” Sinas said.

He said he wants to avoid conflicts in gathering evidence between the crime laboratory investigators and the local police.

The SOCO team for Metro Cebu will serve the cities of Mandaue, Cebu, and Lapu-Lapu.

The team’s counterpart in Cebu Province will gather evidence from crime scenes in towns and component cities.

Sinas said the personnel of the new SOCO team for Metro Cebu will be trained by RCLO 7 starting today. (KAL)