Back to basics training ahead for police units

AT least 115 members of the Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (RAIDSOTF) and the Regional Special Operations Groups (RSOG) will undergo reorientation on the “basics” of police work.

“It’s a back to basics program so to speak. We’re not accusing them of any wrongdoing. But I just want them to revisit why they are here (police service),” said Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, Police Regional Office (PRO-7) chief.

The five-day Balik Eskwela program starts today.

Operatives who fail to attend the trainings shall be required to explain and will face administrative charges, Taliño said.

Also required to undergo reorientation were the anti-illegal drug operatives of the cities and provinces in Cebu, Bohol, and Siquijor and the chiefs of all 126 police precincts in Central Visayas.

Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, deputy director for operations of PRO-7, said they want policemen to better prepare themselves in the intensified campaign against illegal drugs.

“We want to enhance our policemen as we look at the problem on illegal address. We have to be sure. Maybe, they have forgotten how it is to be and act as policemen,” he said.

He said the refresher course is similar to what “low performers” in the Philippine National Police undergo to reorient and improve themselves.

Among the programs that will be included in the five-day training are spirituality, human rights, core values and culture of police service, police intervention techniques, and the standard operating procedures.

Meanwhile, Lawas said they identified 111 of the 126 police precinct chiefs in Central Visayas who failed to arrest half of the drug personalities in their watchlist since February 2016. They were given until last Sunday to improve their performances.