POLICE outposts, especially those under the San Pedro Police Precinct are no longer used, as foot patrols are deemed to be more effective.
"Instead of a Police outpost, we have replaced it with a foot patrol in order to effectively cover a wide range of area," Police Chief Inspector Caezar Payawal Cabuhat of the San Pedro Police said in an interview Tuesday.
Cabuhat said a foot patrol also discourages criminal elements, especially those breaking into cars.
"We have police dressing up as civilians and in uniforms patrolling the Davao area on foot together with the mobile group," Cabuhat said
The foot patrol has been long used since 2002 in a slow progression, slowly replacing the police outposts. It was observed that policemen on patrol are able to stop crime instead of the stationary outpost policemen who only receive complaints when a crime has already been committed.
"Kung makikita ng mga criminal na may police outpost diyan na place, pupunta sila sa kalye na walang outpost at hindi na sila mahuhuli (Criminals just took note of the location of police outposts and then commit crimes where there is none, and so they are not caught)," Cabuhat said.
The outposts set up during the time of then DCPO chief Isidro Lape¤a were supposed to be turned over to the barangays where these are located, but this did not push through since the barangays could not maintain them.
To support the foot patrol, Cabuhat said they have lookouts spread in different areas as well.
The foot patrol mans certain area of responsibility including parking lots, which are the target of the bukas kotse gang and other than that the police can penetrate crime prone areas because they are dressed as civilians. They are also deployed in areas where there is less traffic and people.
Some outposts, however, are still manned, especially in places identified to have high crime incidence.
The foot patrol and mobile patrol group are deployed on a daily basis, 24 hours a day. (RBB)