City policemen preparing for coming holiday season

Police station commanders and special unit chiefs were ordered yesterday to take precautionary measures to prevent the rise of crimes now that the countdown for the holiday season has started.

Acting city police chief Melvin Gayotin yesterday said they are expecting cases of robbery, snatching and other petty crimes to rise with the start of the "ber" months.

"I called on station commanders and special unit chiefs to do something. They should initiate actions to control or prevent crime nga dili na sila kinahanglan magpasulti," Gayotin said.

He said crime statistics in the first and second quarters this year is lower compared to the same period last year, therefore the need to do something to maintain the status.

But he also said there were more murder cases this year compared to the same period last year because of the unsolved of vigilante killings since late December. The death toll has reached 88.

Gayotin said they are doing their best to solve the killings but said it is frustrating as nobody wants to cooperate, not even the relatives of the victims.

Last Monday city policemen were also ordered to be on guard because of a report that a Mindanao-based robbery group led by a man in the military is here launch robberies against pawnshops and banks in Cebu.

As this developed, Gayotin is fast-tracking the establishment of the Cebu City Beat Patrol Section to be headed either by Security and Service Group chief Mariano Natuel or Operations Section head Anecito Perandos.

Under such an arrangement there will be no beat patrol policemen in the station level anymore as the disposition and management of these cops would be centralized already through three districts -north, south and central respectively.

At the moment, the guidelines have already been outlined although Gayotin is still asking for support from the city government in terms of equipment such as hand-held radios, computers and six motorcycles.

Originally, Gayotin wanted to have 135 members for the Beat Patrol Section but the regional headquarters said there are not enough policemen so the strength of the said unit will only be 90. - Ryan P. Borinaga