Policemen in civvies to guard streets anew

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Police Office is reviving a crime prevention strategy that particularly targets criminals who are keeping an eye on uniformed policemen assigned in the streets.

CCPO director Mariano Natu-el Jr. said the strategy is called the detective patrol system, where beat patrol policemen will guard the streets in civilian clothes so as to deceive criminals, who carry out crimes in areas where uniformed personnel are not around.

“Kaning mga criminal, ang beat patrol lang nato ang gibantayan. Unlike before in the ‘90s and ‘80s, ang detective beat patrols are effective. Daghang kasong pagpang-snatch, pusil ug kawat na wa kahibaw ang criminal element na side by side lang nila ang pulis,” Natu-el explained.

Natu-el yesterday discussed the strategy with the different station and unit commanders of CCPO, who then presented their respective areas where the detective beat patrols will be soon deployed.

“As soon as possible, ato nang i-implement ang atong detective beat patrol,” said Natu-el, adding they will consolidate today the number of detective beat patrol and the uniformed beat patrol.

Natu-el further explained that detective beat patrols will be deployed everywhere in the city, and will not be necessarily paired with uniformed beat patrols. He added that some of the detective beat patrols will ride on motorcycles.

The CCPO director, when asked, clarified though that implementing the strategy was not because the crime volume in the city increased. In fact, the number of crimes in the city lowered, he said.

“We’re more on crime prevention than crime solution, mao ning gitagaan nato og importance ang beat patrol,” said Natu-el.

The respective station commanders, Natu-el further said, has also devised ways to check on these detectives, who, based in the past, tended to wander from their assignment, relying that they couldn’t be recognized as policemen as they were wearing civilian clothes. –(FREEMAN)