Probing CIDG probers: They’re found wanting

MANILA, Philippines—It’s back to training school for these supposed top detectives of the Philippine National Police.

Barely a week after Chief Supt. Samuel Pagdilao took over as director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), the PNP disclosed that two out of five police detectives were not trained for the job.

Pagdilao said he discovered that 40 percent of CIDG’s 1,221 personnel nationwide had never undergone any training at all in crime investigation and did not have enough field experience.

These people will immediately undergo an informal in-house training while waiting for their turn to go to the PNP training school, he said at a news conference in Camp Crame Thursday.

“Sixty percent of the whole CIDG personnel are trained and experienced in investigation. The rest of the 40 percent have little experience and did not go through formal courses. We want to change that,” Pagdilao said.

Unacceptable

Pagdilao, a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy Class 1979 who is also a lawyer, found the situation unacceptable, citing PNP Director General Raul Bacalzo’s goal to turn all 130,000 police officers into competent investigators.

“They should know how to investigate. We will come up with an in-house training, a simple module, so that every member of the CIDG main office will know how to conduct an investigation,” he said.

Pagdilao was formerly assigned in the capital’s CIDG office during which he took up law studies.

He became CIDG chief on April 8 after serving as regional police director in Region IV-A (Calabarzon) and previously in Region VI (Western Visayas).

The CIDG takes on sensational cases usually involving public personalities. It is also involved in preventive operations against the country’s most wanted criminals and organized crime groups.

“We are now consolidating and formulating a simple program of instruction that will be used for the training of our people,” Pagdilao said.

Veteran investigators will be tapped as mentors during lectures on Saturdays.

“We will send them to training school by batches,” he said.

SWAT retraining

The PNP is already retraining its Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) members in Metro Manila as a result of the bungled hostage rescue at Rizal Park on Aug. 23, which left eight Hong Kong tourists dead, along with the hostage-taker, dismissed Senior Insp. Rolando Mendoza.

Most SWAT members in the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) were found to be physically unfit and lacking in fundamental SWAT skills. The PNP Special Action Force was tasked to conduct the training.

Pagdilao also complained that the CIDG was undermanned. He said the group’s authorized strength was 1,904 members. “So we are short of 703. Can you imagine that?” he said.

“The CIDG is the premier investigative arm of the PNP. We really have to live up to the expectations of the organization, which is to investigate most especially the sensational cases,” Pagdilao said.

Reinforcement

NCRPO Director Nicanor Bartolome said that 97 policemen from different police districts in the capital who recently completed a rigorous eight-week training course had beefed up the SWAT team.

He said the training conducted by the PNP School for Values and Leadership at the Clark Special Economic Zone in Angeles City, Pampanga province, had been standardized to ensure coordination among the various SWAT units in Metro Manila.

“It reflects the continuing transformation of the PNP to equip all its personnel with the necessary tools and skills they need in the field,” Bartolome said. With a report from Tina G. Santos