Police ready for Monday’s school opening

“Subukan Nyo Po Kami (Go Ahead, Try Us).”

With this fighting slogan for their quick respond text program, policemen in Metro Manila said they are ready for Monday’s start of classes.

Metro Manila police will employ a four-pronged strategy for the back-to-school rush: ensure the general safety of students, maintain peace and order within schools, crime prevention, and campaign against criminal syndicates.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Alan Purisima has deployed a total of 2,445 police personnel to secure schools and students in the metropolis.

Purisima said they would also deploy motorized antistreet crime operatives and police mobile patrol to increase police visibility and deter criminal elements.

Chief Superintendent George T. Regis, Quezon City Police District Director, said everything had been prepared and mapped out to ensure the peaceful and orderly opening of classes.

Regis said all policemen who will be deployed for the implementation of “Oplan Balik Eskuwela” have been ordered to be in their proper uniform.

“Policemen were directed to be at their post before the students arrive and they should be in proper uniform,” Regis said.

He added that security details and other preparations for the opening of classes would be carried out through the school year.

“Security details were mapped out to ensure a peaceful, safe, orderly and successful opening of classes,” Regis said.

Regis added that all policemen deployed have been instructed to strictly adhere to the rules in the conduct of their tour of duty especially in manning Students and Parents Assistance Desks.

He said all police personnel deployed to the different schools in Quezon City must be in proper uniform in line with the PNP’s program on “Tamang Bihis.”

He also ordered all policemen to refrain from texting and smoking while in uniform.

For a more effective crime prevention measures, policemen on patrol should walk on the streets rather than stay in a fixed area of responsibility.

“Policemen should keep on patrolling every street in their area of responsibility,” he said.

Police also warned students, especially those coming from the provinces, to be on alert particularly for “crimes against property.”

“Usually, the criminals that abound during this period are pickpockets, robbery-holdup persons, syndicates that threaten weak-looking targets and accuse them of theft,” Manila Police District spokesperson Chief Inspector Erwin Margarejo said.

Margarejo advised students not to give criminals any opportunity to target them, such as by wearing flashy jewelry on the road, or leaving valuables in plain sight inside cars.

“Crime has three elements: opportunity, instrumentation and intent. My advice to students: Don’t give the opportunity. Let’s give criminals a hard time,” Margarejo said, in Filipino.

Margarejo said students should be wary of suspicious behavior: people who keep looking around, who are ill-at-ease, and who keep peeking into passing cars. “If you notice these signs, alert the police,” he said.

Students can report any suspicious person or activity to the “Subukan Nyo Po Kami” quick respond text hotlines 0915-8888181 and 0999-9018181 for prompt police action from all units in Metro Manila.

Margarejo said the MPD would be out in full force in the vicinities of schools.

Police will employ a buddy system in manning teacher-parent assistance desks, or police assistance kiosks, in schools in the city. Mobile and covert or plainclothes police will also be deployed.

Margarejo said station commanders have been instructed to update their watchlists on the modus operandi of criminal syndicates, and to determine the peak hours of crimes in their areas.