Street is new office for 100 Metro Manila cops

MANILA, Philippines–From office work to street patrol.

Some 100 uniformed policemen have been pulled out of administrative offices to join their colleagues on beat assignment in the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) as part of Camp Crame’s efforts to address criminality in Metro Manila.

The new patrollers will be fielded to “specific areas during identified periods of the day based on crime statistics” and the “tactical decision” of the NCRPO, said Supt. Manuel Gaerlan, executive officer of the Philippine National Police directorate for personnel and records management, during deployment ceremonies at PNP headquarters in Camp Crame in Quezon City.

PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima and Interior Secretary Mar Roxas ordered the deployment, Gaerlan said, noting that Metro Manila was a “priority” because of “the major crime incidents, and majority of the population and economic activity.”

Gaerlan said the reassignment would be temporary until the training of new police recruits is finished.

Earlier, the NCRPO announced that it would be sending nearly 900 recruits to crime-prone areas later this month. An evaluation will still be made to determine if they are qualified for a permanent position.

Gaerlan acknowledged that “the whole PNP” was currently short of personnel if the ideal police-to-civilian ratio of 1:500 were to be followed.

The NCRPO has about 18,000 personnel for 12 to 15 million people, and only half of the police force actually work in day and night shifts, he said.

Gaerlan expressed hope that ongoing PNP efforts to recruit 7,369 nonuniformed personnel could help address the shortage of street patrollers.

“The objective is to replace uniformed personnel in administrative office work so [the uniformed personnel] can be deployed to the streets,” he said.

In the meantime, those left behind in the offices “will have to work double time,” Gaerlan said.

“We are once again calling on the dedication of our personnel,” he added.