CCPO to set up help desks near schools to address OSEC crimes

Police Colonel Gemma Vinluan, Cebu City Police Office chief. |

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Police help desks will be set set up once a week near schools in Cebu City where a high number of rape and child abuse cases have been reported.

Police Colonel Gemma Vinluan, Cebu City Police Office chief, said that this would be one of her plans as the CCPO director as she also would want to address crimes against online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC), rape and human trafficking, aside from the illegal drugs problem.

Vinluan, who was the former Women and Children’s Protection Center in Luzon chief, said that this was a way of addressing online sexual exploitation crimes, which she believed was alarming despite having no exact data yet about these crimes.

She said she believed OSEC crimes were at an alarming level because this kind of crime would usually happen inside the house.

Read more: Rape cases among priorities of new Cebu City Police director

She also said that most of the times, this crime would involve a family member of the victim, which would make it difficult for the victim to expose the exploiter.

Vinluan said although her priorities now would be President Rodrigo Duterte’s war against drugs, she would never turn her back towards solving problems on violence against women and children.

“Sad to say maraming previous operations na ang involved ay mag bata at nag-aaral sila (Sad to say there are previous operations that involved children and they are in school),” said Vinluan.

She said setting up police help desks in or near schools would make it easier for victims to access police officers and to report their abusers and implement immediate arrests./dbs