Jail guards hone skills for crises

Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Special Tactics and Response (Star) teams from across the country on Sunday competed at the PNP Academy Firing Range in Silang, Cavite, to help sharpen their skills on how to respond to emergency situations in prisons.

Jail Director Serafin P. Barretto Jr. said 13 teams from different regions participated in the event led by practical shooting enthusiast and former Philippine National Police Deputy Director General Benjamin Belarmino.

“We have continuing programs like this competition not only to hone the tactical skills of our men but to increase our level of efficiency during crisis and jail incidents,” said Barretto.

During the event, each team was given situations “similar to jail incidents” and were tasked to resolve them.

“Wit, strategy, intelligence and shooting skills are essential components for the successful completion of their mission,” Barretto said.

Each stage was timed and scored separately based on different standard scoring sheets to test the proficiency of each team on rope angel shooting, malfunction relay, tri-gun relay and close-quarter battle or target identification.

“I am happy to see the capability of our personnel in terms of readiness, skills and proficiency today which is a critical requirement to a safe and peaceful resolution of an incident,” Barretto said.

He said that during the rope rescue stage, the teams faced a scenario in which they entered a jail “that houses violent inmates who are either high profile, high risk or classified as violent extremist offenders.”

In the malfunction relay, team members resolved different firearm malfunctions.