CCPO chief to push ‘Adopt a Police Station’ tieup with lawyers, judiciary

Police Colonel Gemma Vinluan, Cebu City Police Office director, is proposing for a partnership with the judiciary and lawyers for her planned “Adopt A Police Station” program. | Alven Marie Timtim

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) chief has taken a page out of the “Adopt a Police Station” program of previous police administrations, but this time she adopted the program on her new planned project a partnership between lawyers and community leaders and police officers for effective police operations.

Police Colonel Gemma Vinluan, CCPO director, said the project would be called “Adopt a Police Station,” and these would involve asking the judiciary of Cebu City to assign a lawyer in each police station, whom they could ask any time of the day for legal advice.

“Gusto kong i-intensify, palakasin yung partnership ng pulis at ng judiciary,” said Vinluan.

(I want to intensify and strengthen the partnership between police and the judiciary.)

Vinluan said she had originally told Executive Judge of Cebu City, Macaundas Hadjirasul, regarding her project, which she thought would be a great help to strengthen the cases that would be filed on arrested suspects.

“Kung ako yung tatanungin gusto ko pag nag operate ang pulis may kasamang attorney,” said Vinluan.

(If I were to be asked, I would want a lawyer present during police operations.)

According to Vinluan, she came up with the project because she had observed that the police would have limitations when it would come to the laws or appropriate legal actions during different police operations. 

She said that although the police had studied about the law, their knowledge would not be comparable with those who had a degree in law.

She said the project would be another way to help build a new Cebu City where the community, police and judiciary would be effective partners in making the city as the finest of all the cities in the country.

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The “Adopt A Police Station” program have been implemented in previous police administrations.

In 2012, then CCPO Chief Melvin Buenafe partnered with business organizations and  a foundation for the program involving these organizations to build the police station or office of the police station that they had adopted./dbs