THE 18th Davao City Council approved on suspended rules last Tuesday a resolution favorably endorsing to the National Police Commission (Napolcom) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) the request of the Davao City Police Office to expand its structure and organization.
Resolution-proponent First District Councilor Mabel Sunga Acosta, stated in the resolution, that due to the continuous influx of people in Davao City there is an urgent need for an expansion of the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) in order to meet the standards required for an effective delivery of public safety and security measures in the city.
It was stated that the Davao city has a ratio of one policeman per 864 people in an area which stretches over 244,000 hectares, and there are only 1,890 police officers to ensure the security of such a large area.
“The Davao City Police in its position paper has indicated the need for four additional police stations to cover the growing demands of the expanding community and local population of the city,” Acosta said.
She also cited that there is also a need to add two city mobile force companies to augment the lone Davao City Mobile Force Company to secure one district each from terrorist intrusion and to pursue lawless armed groups.
Acosta said there is also an urgent need to recruit and train more PNP personnel for the city to fill in the needed strength of the police force and to achieve the ideal police population ration of 1 policeman per 500 people.
“The city government of Davao, led by Mayor Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio, Vice Mayor Bernard Al-ag, and all the members of the council fully support the request of DCPO for the expansion of its structure and organization,” the resolution read.