Labella says Romana deserves chance as Cebu City police chief

CEBU, Philippines -  Amid criticisms on his alleged failure to maintain the city’s peace and order, Cebu City Police Office  director Noli Romana should be given a chance, said Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella.

This, as Romana said he discovered that his men submitted erroneous crime statistics reports to possibly hit targets set by Camp Crame.

Romana said he discovered that in Police Stations I to V, for example, 511 cases were not reported last year, with Station II (Fuente Police Station) having the most number of unreported cases.

“Tama yong aking hunch, basing on the figure parang may pattern eh (My suspicion was correct),” Romana told the media.

He said that in reality, the number of crimes increased 2013 but it declined this year; and if crime rate rose, only by a little percentage.

 â€œThe truth will always come out,” he said.

When the media asked him what possibly caused the erroneous crime statistics report, he said Camp Crame has ordered police stations throughout the country to submit their respective crime statistics some police station chiefs may have altered theirs to hit the target.

“Because of dire intent to hit the target (they submitted tampered reports),” Romana said, adding that it would just be tolerable if the difference is around 10 unreported cases.

“Mahigit na 400 na yon eh, that is too deliberate,” he added.

Labella, on the other hand, said Romana is doing what he can as CCPO director.

“We have to give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s trying his best,” said the vice mayor, when asked for his assessment of Romana’s leadership.

Labella said the public must also consider the ratio imbalance between the number of residents and the number of police in the city.

He said the current ratio is one policeman to over 1,000 people, which is far from the ideal which is one for every 500 residents.

Labella also said that that peace and order is not just a police concern but also of everyone in the community, especially the parents.

“But of course they (CCPO policemen) have to work harder. We will give a chance to Romana to do some more within a reasonable period,” said Labella.

The vice mayor said they have requested Romana to come up with a “corrected” crime analysis report and present it during the City Council’s executive session with CCPO officials Monday.

Labella, council presiding officer, said that after examining Romana’s report, the council would decide if there is a need to give the CCPO director a deadline to address the security problems in the city.

“The council (members) will also peruse the report and come up with their observations and maybe the kind of admonitions that we would give to the police department,” said the vice mayor, who yesterday headed the Police Coordinating Advisory Council  meeting with the police and other law enforcers.

Meanwhile, Romana yesterday said he has ordered a thorough validation of crime statistics that the city’s respective police station chiefs submits to the CCPO following an increase in the crime rate.

Yesterday morning, reporters noticed three police officers carrying police blotters in bulk to the City Investigation and Detection Management Branch

 He also said the old practice by investigators of keeping records in their own book and not entering everything in the official blotter might have contributed to inaccurate reports.

He said the practice should be stopped to get an honest-to-goodness picture of the city’s crime rate.

Romana said the intent to hide the real crime picture of a certain area of responsibility is tantamount to grave misconduct, and added that he was still deliberating on possible sanctions to impose on the erring police station chiefs.

He is set to present on May 19 before the PCAC meeting a validated crime statistics report from July 2013 up to the present.

He said they would be able to finish validating the data coming in from the eleven police stations before the end of the month. (FREEMAN)