NPD turns 50 desk officers to part-time patrol cops

MANILA, Philippines—Finally, these police officers will be where the real action is.

After being desk officers for years, wielding pens and working with computers instead of guns, 50 policemen doing administrative work at the Northern Police District (NPD) headquarters in Caloocan City will soon do field work and be up against the real bad guys outside for at least a day in a week.

The directive from no less than Chief Superintendent Antonio Decano, district director, would hit two birds with one stone, Supt. Ferdinand del Rosario, public information officer, said. He said the deployment of the desk officers to the streets once a week would address the shortage of street cops and optimize the human resources of the NPD.

“If you’re a policeman assigned as an encoder in the office and you finished encoding, then you can just sit there and do nothing. Now, we can prevent that,” Del Rosario said in an interview at the NPD headquarters on Dagat-dagatan avenue

They will now back up 24 NPD personnel deployed to curb crimes in Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela.

The manpower would come on top of 18 policemen already deployed by community precincts at the community level, Del Rosario said.

He said the move would bring the entire Camanava police force a step closer to achieving the ideal policeman-to-resident ratio of 1:500 in every city.

At present, one policeman is in charge of securing the safety of 700 to 800 residents in each locality.

“It’s a way to strengthen police visibility…Now, policemen are really always on the go,” he said.

Del Rosario said the patrolling schedules of each administrative officer would be determined by the district personnel management unit.

Senior Police Officer 2 Ernesto Arroz, chief clerk of the investigation unit, said that he was looking forward to doing field operations.

Arroz usually spent his time within the confines of the NPD headquarters, ensuring that documents and spot reports were well kept for future reference.

“It’s really different when you’re outside, after all. It’s a different kind of feeling,” he enthused.