Police doing admin work need to patrol streets too, says PNP chief Bartolome

MANILA, Philippines—Police officers presently assigned to do administrative work will be tasked to patrol their areas of responsibility and increase police visibility, Philippine National Police chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters after a command conference in Camp Crame, Bartolome said the move to increase the number of officers patrolling nationwide would take effect immediately, adding that regional directors have been tasked to task their officers on patrolling their areas once they get back to their respective offices.

The PNP chief said they have worked out a system to monitor the officers they would send out to patrol their areas, stating that it has been done before when he was still heading the National Capital Region Police Office.

He said policemen designated to do office work would be assigned to patrol twice in the day, once in the morning from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and in the afternoon from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. He said the patrol shifts were scheduled in times of the day where there was not much office work yet.

“Bakit hindi gamitin ang administrative personnel upang tumulong? (Why can’t we use administrative personnel to help?)” he asked.

He said that members of the Regional Public Safety Battalions and Public Safety Companies who are not immersed in internal security operations would be used to increase police visibility.

Now, 15 percent of police were assigned to administrative work while 85 percent were tasked to due field work, said Bartolome. He explained they would decrease the current 15 percent, leaving the non-uniform and key personnel in the offices.

He however said that to send out more officers would mean they would need additional support to fund and sustain such patrolling activities, in which they have asked the help of Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr.

Bartolome said Ochoa’s presence at their command conference in itself was a show of support and that the official has said that he would assist the police force in carrying out their plans to improve police visibility.