Mar to cops: Apply more brains, not just brawn

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Be brains and brawn.

This was the message of Interior Secretary Mar Roxas to the officers of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) as he urged them to come up with new strategies in battling criminality in Metro Manila.

“Working harder is not enough. We need to work smarter,” Roxas told the senior NCRPO officers during their regular meeting on Friday.

“What we want to develop is a dependable mechanism for (ensuring) outcomes, not hit and miss. (It) should be one that works… and is dependable,” he said.

Since the government cannot hire additional policemen at once, Roxas advised the police commanders to deploy personnel doing clerical work to law enforcement operations.

“These (personnel) are trained in police work, in crime investigation and in battling criminals. They should be assigned in the field and civilians can take over their work in the offices,” he said.

The interior secretary lauded the Metro Manila police for its recent accomplishments in arresting wanted criminals through the implementation of “Oplan Pivot” of the Philippine National Police.

However, Roxas said, the police should not rest on their laurels but continue to set up security checkpoints, improve patrol operations and increase visibility in the streets.

“The fact that crimes went down based on numbers [indicates] there is indeed a slight reduction in crime incidence. But we have to check whether this is only an isolated variance,” he said.

He also directed them to continue the implementation of “Oplan Katok,” the PNP’s main campaign plan to account all loose firearms by making house-to-house visits to all registered and known gun owners nationwide.

“This contributes to increased police presence in the different communities,” he said.

In addition, Roxas directed the NCRPO field commanders to assign “statisticians” in their police stations to help the PNP “make a regression analysis” of all recorded crimes in their areas.

He said the statisticians would also assist them to “determine the three biggest change improvements and the three biggest change deterrents in your areas of jurisdiction.”