QCPD dissolves unit of cop dismissed for extortion

Photo taken from qcpdpnp.com

MANILA, Philippines — Two offices of the Quezon City Police District, one of which used to be the unit of former Senior Police Officer 4 Jose de la Peña — who was dismissed on charges of extortion — have been dissolved and its personnel sent to the barangays (villages).

Around 152 policemen from the Mobile Patrol Unit and 21 from the Tactical Motorcycle Riders are now assigned to precincts in Quezon City’s 142 barangay.

“This is to improve our patrol capabilities in the communities,” said the QCPD director, Chief Superintendent Mario de la Vega.

De la Peña, who was dismissed from the service last month, used to be with the MPU at the time he was arrested for allegedly extorting money from a police general’s son.

Asked if the dissolution of the MPU and the TMR is related to the De la Peña incident, De la Vega said it could be considered an “offshoot” of the scandal.

Last month, Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina, National Capital Region Police Office director, ordered the creation of police precincts in each barangay to improve response time to distress calls.

His son was supposedly victimized by De la Peña in an alleged extort try in New Manila, Quezon City, on Sept. 4.

Espina dismissed De la Peña for alleged extortion but for a 2009 case involving a military general’s son.

“We studied this move as an offshoot of the extortion allegations. It also happened that our regional director had a directive to strengthen patrols in our barangays. But the dissolution of the MPU and TMR is the decision of the QCPD,” the police official explained.

He added that the MPU and TMR were not required units under the Table of Organization and Equipment, with the MPU being a QCPD creation several decades back.

Also to be distributed to other operating units and police stations are 21 police cars from the MPU and 21 motorcycles from the TMR.

Personnel from other units will be also downloaded to police precincts.

This brings to 456 the total number of downloaded police personnel, including those from the TMR and MPU.

The MPU’s commander, Chief Inspector Jerome de la Cruz, has been reassigned to the Kamuning police station.

Some of the units whose members were sent to the barangays are the Police Assistance Center, District Public Safety Battalion, District Anti-Illegal Drugs, Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, District Intelligence Division, and District Investigation and Detective Management Division.

“We are streamlining those units and sending the policemen to the communities. We aim to maintain 10 percent of our administrative strength here at headquarters,” De la Vega said.

The target number of policemen in each barangay is a minimum of four cops, according to Dela Vega.