With a stern instruction for the police to maintain order while he is away, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama left for the United States Thursday afternoon.
“We, senior officers of the Cebu City Police Office, will subdivide our areas into three — north, south and central — and each one of us were given a focus area,” said Senior Supt. Noli Romana, the city’s chief of police.
He added they were ordered to reduce crime incidents by August.
The mayor at the same time promised to address the needs of the police.
“I will not run away from preparing what they deserve- mobility, equipment. When there will be an opportunity for supplemental budget, I am definitely going to address it, even including the officers also having to receive a little higher honorarium,” the mayor said.
Rama explained to them that maintaining peace and order is a duty of the police and the community. “It’s how to execute cooperation that’s the missing piece in the puzzle,” Romana said.
Rama said he will make an assessment this August on the performance of the police in curbing crimes.
There will be a “paradigm shift” accompanying this three-month task, Romana said.
Romana added that while the national and regional headquarters require a standard set of organizational structures, they have some leeway in how they perform their duties at the ground level.
The shifts will include dealing with hierarchy in position assignments, for example, said Romana.
“The national headquarters directs that a Traffic Patrol Group head should be a superintendent. But the mayor said that it doesn’t have to be so since a major is capable of performing the job as well.),” he said./UP Cebu Intern Angeli Sarmiento
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