MANILA, Philippines — More rogue cops were arrested in 2019 as compared to the year before, the Philippine National Police (PNP) Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG) has reported.
Data from the PNP-IMEG showed that about 52 scalawag police officers were arrested in 2019, which is an 18 percent increase from the 44 arrested in 2018.
Of the figure, 27 officers were detailed with the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), while five were from the Police Regional Office 3 (Central Luzon).
The majority of those arrested or 43 officers are non-commissioned officers while seven are commissioned, officers.
Since 2017, a total of 147 rogue cops have been arrested by the PNP-IMEG. Nearly half, or 47%, of those arrested faced cases of robbery extortion, followed by cases of illegal drugs at 18%, and illegal gambling at 5%
PNP-IMEG spokesperson Capt. Mae Ann Cunanan credits the increase in the number of arrested police officers to the public’s increased awareness of available means of reporting the activities of erring cops, which includes a hotline and social media.
“Naging aware na kasi ‘yung public na magreport sa aming hotline o Facebook page. Nagdagdagan pa rin ‘yung minomonitor namin,” she told reporters in an interview.
(The public became more aware to report on our hotline or Facebook page. The number of cops we are monitoring now has increased.)
“Alam na nila kung saan sila magsusumbong, alam na rin nila kung ano yung mga dapat nilang isumbong at saka aware na sila kung ano yung masamang ginagawa ng pulis,” she added.
(The public now knows where they can report, they also know what they should report about and they are now aware of the crimes being committed by police officers.)
The PNP-IMEG was also given more personnel to monitor, conduct surveillance, and process the case build-up against rogue police officers.
Cunanan added that the PNP-IMEG now has 180 personnel from the previous 70. However, she said, the PNP-IMEG needs 300 more police officers to allow it to fully function.