Provincial Board urges towns, cities to use CCTV cameras

The Cebu Provincial Board (PB) yesterday passed a resolution calling on all municipal governments to install security cameras in their buildings to deter crime.

The step followed last week’s record series of burglaries of treasury offices in municipal halls of Compostela, Carmen and Sogod town in the north, and Pinamungahan town in the midwest.

“The proximity of these (treasurer’s) offices to police stations adds a dimension of paradox, even insult to the crimes which ought to have been deterred by the presence of agents of authority and law,” said the measure authored by PB Members Thaddeus Durano and Sun Shimura.

The latest heist in Pinamunghan resulted in the loss of more than P200,000 cash.

The Capitol Security Unit, which is reinforced now with two private security agencies, only covers province-owned properties.

The municipalities are expected to take care of security of their own premises.

Under pressure to explain the string of robberies, Senior Supt. Noel Gillamac, Cebu provincial police chief, ordered all municipal and city police chiefs to conduct “security surveys”.

Developments

He met yesterday with investigators and other police officials to discuss updates.

He ordered the Provincial Investigation and Detection Management Bureau to assist local police in their investigations.

“We can see a pattern here. Maybe the same group did it and these could also be the work of copycats,” Gillamac told Cebu Daily News.

“What we are after now is to ensure that this does not happen again.

“That is why I ordered our station commanders to conduct security surveys,” he said.

Gillamac said a security survey will look into the vulnerability of a building or structure to crimes such as robberies.

Target hardening

The inspection will include whether the facilities installed security cameras, locks on the doors and windows, and the physical status of vaults used to store valuables.

Gillamac said the survey will also identify persons who have access to the vaults and the treasury offices of Pinamungajan, Compostela, Carmen.

“All of them (towns) don’t have security guards because they relied on the proximity of police stations. They don’t have security cameras,” Gillamac said.

The PIDMB team will also check whether the municipal police force in the towns conducted regular patrols.

Gillamac said the CPPO will take steps to reinforce the municipal halls, a process he called target hardening”.

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