More cops told to man Cebu City police stations

AT LEAST 180 fresh legs were added to the existing workforce of Cebu City’s 11 police stations.

City Police Director Royina Garma said on Friday that 180 non-commissioned police officers were directed to report to the police stations to especially help in ensuring police visibility on city streets.

Among those who were reassigned were non-commissioned personnel who used to be with the Theft and Robbery Section (TRS), Subpoena and Warrants Section and the Homicide Section.

“There will be no reason na hindi nila matugunan yung police presence nila sa mga kalsada (There is no more reason for them not to prioritize police visibility on city streets),” said Garma.

The existing workforce of 15 to 20 policemen assigned in each of the police stations is not enough.

“What I did is to put more personnel on stations and to empower them also,” Garma added.

Garma is confident that with the additional manpower, police stations will now be empowered to handle big cases like murder.

“Una, sila ang nasa ground, sila yung nakakauna doon, para mas madali ang response (They are the ones on the ground so it is expected that they are also the first to respond to these crimes),” Garma said in an interview after the launch of her “Itug-an ni CD (Report to CD)” campaign on Friday morning.

The program is the local counterpart of the “Isumbong kay Chief PNP” campaign of the Philippine National Police (PNP) where in the public are advised to immediately report their complaints or report crimes to the office of the chief PNP. / USJR Intern Zena V. Magto