Choppers can curb Manila robberies

Sao Paulo, Brazil, is much like Metro Manila. It sits between the sea and a vast suburban sprawl. Its daytime population of 18 million workers pack into business centers by car and bus from highways to narrow streets. Up to three years ago, well-organized gangs attacked banks, armored cars and even airports at a rate of one strike a day. Getaway was aided in great part by traffic jams that prevented the police from quick response.

In July 2000 Congonhas Airport was struck with a wave of robberies marked by military precision. The head office of the Brazilian flag carrier suffered four of these heists in two weeks. Supermarkets suffered the same fate. Things were getting out of hand. Office employees, guards and clients were often killed. But the thieves escaped with little problem.

The government and businesses devised several ways to fight back. The most effective was when LRC Aero, one of Sao Paulo’s biggest air taxi lines, organized a new wing called Serviço de Prevenção a Assaltos (SPA), or Assault Prevention Service. The result was an air surveillance network capable of reacting in a flash to any criminal activity.

Unique to Brazil, the SPA was offered primarily to banks. But it now secures other businesses that handle large amounts of cash. It consists of six standard helicopters fitted with special gadgets like videocams with real-time transmission and searchlights with infrared imaging. Only one chopper patrols the metropolis day and night. In case of a heist, however, the system activates to call in the other choppers and the ground troops.

Once a bank triggers an electronic alarm, the SPA headquarters at Congonhas Airport goes on red alert. A chopper is scrambled to reach, film and assess the situation in less than two minutes. With global positioning signals (GPS) beamed to the chopper, the crew easily spots the troubled building from the air. Telescopic camera lenses identify license plates and other distinguishing marks of getaway vehicles. Police cars are informed of the robbers’ weaponry and directed through traffic to where the criminals are headed.

In less than two years of the SPA’s activation, Sao Paolo’s banking system noted an 85-percent drop in heists. Police casualties were reduced. All robberies spotted by the SPA were solved, and the loot recovered. Films aided in convicting the criminals. Today the most sopjisticated Sao Paulo businesses, including Congonhas Airport and all the airlines, are linked to SPA’s computer and signal systems.

The PNP would do well to copy Sao Paulo’s solution. Bank, armored car and payroll robberies in Greater Manila now occur with a frequency of two a week. Of the 29 bank heists in the metropolis since the start of the year, only one was solved; not a single loot was taken back. In the daring daylight attack on Citibank’s main branch in Makati last month the dozen gunmen fired at the tires of passing vehicles to create a huge traffic jam that covered their getaway. This was followed by five more heists around the city that police suspect were mostly pulled by the same gang. Twice last week unknown terror groups threw tire tacks along EDSA and other major thoroughfares in what authorities believe to be dryruns for bigger crime jobs. This would mean tens of millions of pesos more lost to theft, and tens of billions in investments scared off. The PNP response is obviously to fight back from the air, over which gangs have no control but can give police clear advantage.

Money is the stumbling block in any police modernization. Much of the PNP’s meager resources is blocked off for salaries and maintenance. Only a small fraction is left for acquisition of weapons and equipment. The trick is thus in choosing the right choppers for the job.

Only recently the PNP purchased three turbine-powered six-seater choppers for P255 million. The units are swift and quiet. But they are costly to fly. Turbines use up more fuel to make for speed. It costs several millions of pesos to train just one police pilot in flight maneuvers. The PNP is thus minimizing its use. The result is minimal use as well in robbery chases. Only once this year was such a PNP chopper dispatched to track down a robbery in progress in Metro Manila.

Sao Paulo’s SPA uses relatively cheaper piston-engined Robinson makes from California. Because it is basically a commercial taxi fleet that must keep costs down and profits up, SPA opted for the four-seater model whose price is only a fourth of the turbine version. It trains pilots on even cheaper two-seater models. Robinson has built six thousand units now flying worldwide, more than the combined production of all other North American manufacturers. Similarly strapped for cash, Mexico City will soon follow Sao Paulo crime-fighting by air using piston brands.

Police choppers can also come in handy for highway smashups and traffic, light rescues and counter-terrorism. The PNP can deploy choppers not only in Metro Manila but other urban centers as well. The small aircraft are as easy to maintain as firetrucks, but can fight crime more effectively than an army of tanks.

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Another reason for Filipinos to be proud: Dr. Domingo Landicho, the Philippines’ Southeast Asia-Write awardee for 2003, will receive his prize from Queen Sirikit of Thailand on Oct. 15 in Bangkok. Together with nine other awardees from ASEAN countries, Landicho and his wife Edna May, a playwright and theater arts professor at the University of the Philippines, will be feted to a six-day art celebration hosted by the Royal Family.

Landicho is a poet, fictionist, essayist, editor, dramatist and novelist who has authored more than 50 books, including that for children. One of his novels, the Palanca grand-prize winning Bulaklak ng Maynila, recently was made into a film. His latest novel Mata ng Apoy, on the martial law years, was launched this month. Weeks before that, he was conferred the Gawad Balagtas by the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas.

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Catch Linawin Natin, Mondays at 11 p.m., on IBC-13.

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E-mail: [email protected]