A Christmas wish: Cops seek upgrade of facilities

The Malabon police force has made a desperate appeal for an upgrade of their facilities.

Mga limang taon na pong siyudad ang Malabon pero ang mga gamit po naming mga pulis sa paggawa ng mga report ay napag-iwanan na," one cop, who requested anonymity for obvious reasons, said.

The concerned policemen told The STAR they are directing this appeal to Malabon City Mayor Tito Oreta, Northern police District director Chief Superintendent Raul Gonzales, Superintendent Moises "Kamagong" Guevarra, Malabon police chief and generous members of the community.

They said adding more typewriters or providing them with computers will free them for the more critical job of keeping the peace and order in the city streets.

"Even computers with just the baret essentials to enable us to make our reports faster, neater and more efficiently will do," they said.

The concerned cop said all nine of the station’s investigators, for one, have to wait for their turn in using a run-down Olympia typerwriter in making their reports.

"Ang ginagamit po naming nag-iisang typewriter ay hubad at wala nang takip at walang ‘back space’," the cop said.

Investigators said they are confronted with at least six to eight complaints daily that need reporting on paper. A complaint usually consists of four to five pages.

The downtime in preparing the reports and other paperwork takes valuable time from their real jobs in "winning the battle of the streets" and the hearts and minds of the local populace, they said.

When asked what their superiors are doing about the problem, they claimed their cries have fallen on deaf ears. When by luck their wailing reaches them, they said they were told to "use your initiative."

Their appeal sounded desperate.

They told The STAR they were ready to face the consequences together, if only this cry for help is answered finally "especially during this season of giving."

"Handa kaming pagalitan. Sama-sama kami dito," they said.