BACOLOD City Councilor Al Victor Espino is planning to make a request to the Police Regional Office-Western Visayas to deploy more policemen to the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO).
Espino, chairperson of the City Council committee on police matters, said Friday, August 9, that BCPO lacks police personnel to maintain the peace and order in the city.
He said next week, he will file a resolution asking the PRO-Western Visayas director to deploy additional policemen for BCPO.
Espino noted that at present, BCPO has a total of 562 policemen and this number is not enough to secure the safety of Bacolodnons.
"We have more than 600,000 populations, and the police to population ratio is projected at one personnel for every 1, 5000 constituents," Espino said.
He said the BCPO needs more policemen to reach the standard ratio of 1:500 police to population ratio.
Espino recalled that on Wednesday, August 7, two jewelry stores were robbed inside Gaisano City Grand Mall, and there were shooting incidents involving businessmen in previous months.
Espino said the BCPO's visibility patrol is a big help to prevent the possible operations of lawless elements in various areas of Bacolod.
Meanwhile, Espino said he will also ask Mayor Evelio Leonardia if they could provide additional patrol cars for BCPO.