CPPO to activate "night watch"

CEBU, Philippines - All police officers under the Cebu Provincial Police Office will serve once a month as a night watch patrollers to help in monitoring the crime-prone areas in the province, said CPPO officer-in-charge Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador.

Comendador said the move is patterned after the Night Watch Patrol that he implemented when he was still the director of the Cebu City Police Office.

According to him, the implementation of the same crime prevention measure in the province will focus on towns that have most number of crimes recorded like Minglanilla, Consolacion, Liloan, and Cordova and the component cities of Naga and Talisay.

Comendador said he still have to check the crime clock of the said municipalities before he will schedule the deployment of police personnel there.

“I will still work on the details if morning nako sila i-deploy or evening ba depende when most of the crimes occur,” he said.

The police official said that when the Night Watch Patrol was implemented in Cebu City, operatives start patrolling the crime-prone areas a about 9:00 in the morning until 3:00 in the morning the next day. He added the measure showed a positive effect because it had helped reduced the crime rate in the city.

Comendador said a police officer is obliged to perform a night watch regardless of whether he or she is assigned in the office during the day.

Each policeman must render one night watch once a month while the armed personnel would roam around at night everyday to maintain the peace and order. Through this, he said police officers would be able to immediately respond to various crime incidents.

As an augmentation, Comendador said two teams will be pulled out from the Special Reaction Unit which has more or less 60 members to compliment the power of each police station. These police operatives will be deployed in Carcar in south and Danao City in the northern Cebu.

“Better sa mid-north and mid-south aron kung unsa ang alarma dali ra sila ka-responde,” Comendador said.

All members of the night watch will be equipped with radios for communication and monitoring.  (FREEMAN)