CCPO chief puts more cops to patrol Cebu City streets

Expect more police officers on the ground in different parts of Cebu City.

This developed after at least 180 non-commissioned officers under the different offices in Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) were reassigned and deployed to police stations in the city.

This is to increase police visibility in the different areas and streets of the city as one of the campaigns of the newly assigned CCPO director, Senior Supt. Royina Garma.

“So there will be no reason na hindi nila matugunan yung police presence nila sa mga kalsada,” said Garma. (So there will be no reason that they cannot have police visibility on the streets.)

Garma also cited the need to put more personnel in the different police stations in the city.

She said that there would be around 15 to 20 personnel deployed to all 11 stations in Cebu City.

“What I did was to put more personnel on stations and to empower them also,” said Garma.

Part of the police personnel being reassigned were from the Theft and Robbery Section; Subpoena and Warrant Section; and Homicide Section.

With this, she said, police officers in police stations could quickly respond and investigate to bigger cases like murder cases.

“Una, sila ang nasa ground, sila yung nakakauna doon, para mas madali ang response (First, they are the ones on the ground and they can quickly respond and be the first ones at the crime scene),” Garma said.

Also yesterday (July 6), the CCPO officially launched the program “Itug-an ni CD (city director).”

The program is the local counterpart of the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) “Isumbong kay Chief PNP” where the public can send their complaints and reports, said Garma during a press briefing at the CCPO office.

In the press conference, Garma presented the flyers, stickers and calling cards with the hotlines and online web pages to be disseminated all over Cebu City.

Garma said that with the “Itug-an ni CD,” the public could directly report to the city director acts of criminality, civic issues and concerns regarding peace and order through the program.

“Kahit anong report tatangapin namin and we will validate it. Pati na yung mga report sa mga tiwaling pulis. Rest assured may confidentiality ito sa mga magsusumbong (The public can report and we will accept and validate it. We encourage them to report especially on rogue cops. Rest assured that it will be confidential),” said Garma.

A Facebook page named “Itug-an ni CD” is also available for online reports.

Garma is encouraging the public to take pictures of illegal activities or evidence of these activities to the hotlines.

“But if you are confused, like you need legal advice, you can post it, sasabihin lang po niya na i-refer sa akin, ako na ang mag advice,” said Garma.

She also added that the public could report good and wrongdoings of the police so that they would know what to improve in their service.

“We will take the negative comments positively, kasi kung puro (because if it is all) positive, we will not improve anymore,” Garma said.
Although the program’s jurisdiction is only in Cebu City, Garma said that they could still coordinate with the provincial police and other police stations outside Cebu City if they would receive reports in areas not under their jurisdiction.