Razon heads NCRPO

The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) will have a new chief starting today in the person of Director Avelino Razon.

Razon, a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class ’74, will replace outgoing Metro police chief Director Ricardo de Leon who was promoted yesterday to head the Philippine Center for Transnational Crimes (PCTC) at Cramp Crame.

De Leon will turn over his post to Razon during rites at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig at 9 a.m. today .

Prior to his new assignment as NCRPO chief, Razon was head of the directorate for operations of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

De Leon graciously accepted his transfer as he called on Razon to continue implementing his programs, especially the NCRPO Transformation Master Plan, which he credited for the 48 percent reduction of streets crimes in Metro Manila during his leadership.

"I will personally advise him (Razon) to download 90 percent of our policemen to the streets and strengthen the police partnership with the community," he said.

During his almost nine-month stint, De Leon successfully cut by half the incidence of streets crimes in Metro Manila through the relentless implementation of its multi-faceted approach to law enforcement.

For the first seven months of the year, only 3,138 incidents of street crimes were accumulated for the period compared to 6,053 incident last year. The crime solution efficiency was pegged at 97.23 with 3,095 out of 3,138 incidents solved.

Noteworthy of the figures was the reduction of cellular phone snatching incidents from 404 last year to the 260 cases recorded this year.

De Leon also took into account the significant decrease in street-level drug peddling, which posted a figure of 1,389 incidents compared to 3,780 incidents last year.

In the kidnapping-for-ransom (KFR) front, De Leon said there were only 10 KFR cases recorded from January to July, compared to 28 cases last year.

Among the significant accomplishments of the NCRPO during De Leon’s stint was the arrest of Teddy Padre, the No. 8 most wanted personality in the KFR order of battle.

Padre was arrested by elements of the Central Police District last March. Other arrested kidnappers were Elmer Valencia, ex-PO2 Cortez and seven others responsible for the kidnapping of two persons last January.