WPD ‘sekretas’ vow to protect shoppers

They may not be in uniform, but they’re the good guys and they’re pounding the beat to protect holiday shoppers and the public at large during the season.

The Western Police District (WPD) has deployed undercover cops — also known as sekretas — in shopping malls and other crowded areas to protect the public from criminals who prey on unsuspecting shoppers and holiday-makers.

"There is usually a marked increase in petty crimes during this season, when people flock to malls and crowded tiangges (flea markets) for their shopping. Sekretas, who will mix with the crowd in civilian clothes, will complement the patrol system of the police station units," WPD detective beat patrol unit head Chief Inspector Juanito Taluban said.

Taluban will be fielding five teams of sekretas to beat patrol duty along the stretch of Claro M. Recto Avenue to Juan Luna in Divisoria and the University Belt in Sampaloc.

"These areas," he said, "have exhibited high incidence of petty crimes during the Christmas season last year and have been classified as crime-prone areas."

As motivation for performance above par, Taluban has initiated a point system for his detectives, who get one point for every arrested suspect and each time they recover loot. The daily tally of points over a one-week period is summed up for each team.

The plainclothes team with the highest number of points gets an incentive, Taluban said. The team with the lowest number of points gets assigned to man the office, referred to as the "deck," for a week.

"In this way, my men are motivated to become more active and agile in their performance," Taluban said. "The police are obliged to make arrests in their respective assignments, thus will greatly lower the incidence of street crimes."

Taluban cited the case of a suspected mugger who was caught in the act of robbing a student by roving sekretas.

Joseph Sanchez, 33, an informal settler in the slum area along E. Rodriguez Avenue in Quezon City, was charged with robbery with intimidation following the filing of a complaint against him by a student from the Technological University of the Philippines (TUP), whom Sanchez held up for P200.

Taluban said Sanchez has been harassing and robbing students along Rizal Avenue in the Sta. Cruz.

Though the suspect never used weapons when robbing his victims, he is notorious for using verbal intimidation to extort money from his victims.

The suspect was described by Taluban as very observant and able to spot uniformed policeman from a distance and elude arrest.

"This time he could not get away from undercover cops," Taluban said.