NOBLE
HEARSES with policemen will park in front of cemeteries in Cebu province on November 1 and 2, but not because of the burial of any policeman.
This is an echo of the gimmick used some time ago when policemen brought hearses during their Oplan Tokhang operations in the different barangays of Cebu, where they knocked on doors of people involved in drugs and asked them to surrender to the police.
Senior Supt. Eric Noble, Cebu provincial police director, said he ordered all policemen to display hearses in front of graveyards while appealing over a megaphone, for people to stay away from illegal drugs.
“This is going to be exciting. We will make this event different from the previous years,” he said during the Talakayan sa Isyung Pulis (TSIP) Forum at the Police Regional Office’s (PRO-7) Media Center yesterday.
Noble said 902 policemen and 1,600 civilian volunteers will be deployed in all the 152 cemeteries in Cebu province during the celebration of the All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.
Aside from maintaining peace and order, he said policemen should also convince drug users and peddlers to quit their illegal activities and submit to authorities.
He said policemen who refuse to cooperate shall be made to explain.
“I asked them to post pictures of their activities on Facebook. I will be monitoring their posts to find out if they follow my instructions or not,” Noble said.
“It’s up to them how they will do it,” he added.
The police official expressed hope that the police would be successful in implementing their TapHang (Tapok-Hangyo) campaign.