PNP Director General Alan Purisima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — After reporting a crime to the police, don’t forget to ask for your copy of the official record.
The Philippine National Police advised the public to always secure a copy of the incident record form (IRF) after reporting a crime or filing a complaint with the local police.
In a statement, PNP Director General Alan Purisima stressed the importance of the IRF to both the citizen reporting the crime, and the police unit handling it.
The IRF is a document that is accomplished by the complainant and which is supposed to contain data about the complainant, the victim or the suspect, and the narration of the crime.
Once signed by the investigator and the complainant, the IRF becomes an official document and it will be immediately recorded in the police blotter.
The data will be uploaded to the Crime Incident Reporting System (CIRS) database. The IRF becomes the first document in the case folder.
“The implementation of the CIRS will ensure the gathering and inclusion of all reported crime data into the database. This is why the IRF is very important to both the reporting citizen and to the PNP,” Purisima said.
The IRF is used in all police stations and offices with investigative functions.
The CIRS is an electronic database system for crime documentation and systematic data storage and retrieval.
It allows for quick, fast and reliable transmission of crime information from police units and offices on the ground to the PNP National Headquarters.
All police stations and units with investigative functions have CIRS-installed computers to aid the nationwide database of crimes, according to Purisima.
“It is part of our efforts to further provide our people with true crime reporting. This is why the IRF is very important to be kept by both complainant and our investigators,” the PNP chief added.
If a crime was reported to the police but referred back to the barangay (village level), the IRF must indicate if the case was amicably settled, under investigation or referred back to the police with a certification to file action.