Personnel under the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO).
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Police Office is drafting a strategy to be able to deploy enough personnel on the streets despite being undermanned.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Maria Theresa Macatangay, information officer of CCPO, said this following the order of Mayor Michael Rama to ensure police visibility in the city 24/7.
In an interview with dyHP on Monday morning, August 15, 2022, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama called all barangay captains in the city to take part in ensuring peace and order in the city.
Rama also ordered the city’s policemen to continue the implementation of curfew from 10 pm. to 4 a.m. and make sure that police are visible in all areas round the clock.
Macatangay said that the ideal ratio of the police to the city’s population is 1:500. But with the CCPO’s existing total force, they follow a ratio of 1: 2,000, admitting that they are somehow undermanned.
The Cebu City Police Office’s population is around 1,200.
However, when they consider the shifting of personnel, they will only have at least 500 to 600 PNP personnel in Cebu City.
“We are not shying away from the challenge, especially since it is the directive of the mayor. Not only that, that should always be the case sa atoa nga kapulisan. To deploy every able and available PNP personnel on the streets,” Macatangay said.
Additional personnel
Macatangay said they will ask for additional personnel from the regional headquarters. They are still waiting for the appropriation on how many personnel will be turned over to them.
“But again, di man ta pwede nga di mulihok kay walay pulis nga gihatag. So we will do the best deployment that we can with the available human resources that we have,” she said.
Even though they have a problem with the number of their personnel, Macatangay said that their crime rate in the city is ‘very low’. She said this is the result of the strong partnership of CCPO, barangay captains, and the business sector.
The common crimes include crimes against properties, particularly theft incidents. For crimes against persons, majority were of physical injuries.
/bmjo
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