CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Newly-installed Police Regional Office (PRO)-Central Luzon Acting Director Brigadier General Rhodel Sermonia is set to field senior police officers to watch over fellow law enforcers.
The move is part of his mission to regain public trust in the police by strictly implementing the internal cleansing ordered by the Philippine National Police (PNP).
The group, dubbed as "Red Team," will be deployed in the seven provinces of the region and will be supervised by senior policemen.
The Red Team will be tasked to apprehend crooked policemen, as well as ensure that all programs will be properly implemented and felt by the people in order to gauge its success.
"The point is, I will rather catch you doing good than catch you flat-footed doing the bad things. That will be the job of the Red Team," Sermonia said.
Aside from the establishment of the Red Team, Sermonia said an open-door policy will also be implemented in all police stations to provide transparency in order to win anew the hearts and minds of people.
"Our desks [at police stations] must have active police-community relations. Meaning, we serve and protect the people with a smile and confidence," he added.
Sermonia said he is going to start this open-door policy in the Regional Headquarters in Camp Olivas.
The Regional and Provincial Mobile Forces will also be utilized to augment in community engagement activities.
"All mobile forces will be doing police-community relations works in support to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, in support to the Anti-Criminality Programs, and in support to the War against Drugs," Sermonia said.
To regain public trust is among the top priority of Sermonia following the several controversies thrown at the PNP recently.
"Shaping public perception in favor of the PNP remains a big challenge. Believe me or not, when the public is more suspicious with the police we can hardly accomplish half of the task at hand. Thus, in order to meet the requisites on internal cleansing, several measures will be implemented," he said.