City cops brace for Christmas

For the holiday season, the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) will deploy more than half of its workforce on a 12-hour shift.

CCPO Director Joel Doria said that instead of only eight hours, police officers will be detailed on the streets for 12 hours to increase police visibility during the Christmas season.

“Putting policemen on the streets is very effective as less crimes will be committed if our officers’ presence is felt,” Doria said.

With more than a thousand strength of uniformed personnel, the CCPO will use 90 percent of its police officers for the holiday season.

There will be two shifts considering the full alert status of the police, Doria said.

“It is to boost the number of personnel on the field and we knew that Christmas is near and that is part of the directive of our regional director. We have to be visible,” Doria said.

Since last year, the full alert status has not been lowered.

“There will be personnel in places of convergence like bus terminals, malls, piers and churches especially that it’s Christmas. We will be seeing a lot of our police officers,” Doria said.

Police officers will be on a 24-hour shift because of the full alert status, twelve hours will be for duty while the remaining 12 hours will be for on-call status.

The different beat patrolers will be responsible for their respective areas, the city director said.

“If something will happen in his area, the police officer will be the one to explain,” Doria said.