‘MORE CRIMES MEAN POLICE ARE ACTIVE’

Contrary to what the President believes, Mayor Osmeña said he prefers crime volume to go up since it means that police are doing their jobs and people are reporting crimes.

Although he has no qualms about President Rodrigo Duterte’s order for local chief executives to lower the crime volume in their area, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said this may mean that the police are not efficient.

He said a higher crime rate shows active police operations and that the community is reporting crimes, even petty ones.

“Whatever he wants, I’m just doing my job. I’ll tell you frankly, ever since I became mayor, I wanted the crime volume to go up. It means they (police) are doing their job. They believe the perception that if the crime volume is low, that means there’s no crime. That’s not true. It’s the opposite,” Osmeña told reporters.

After expressing his dismay, Duterte ordered mayors to step up their anti-crime efforts.

He warned that local chief executives who are not doing their job would be sued for neglect of duty and will eventually be dismissed.

President Duterte said that the police could take over and temporarily become the “mayors” to address peace and order problems.

He also called on the local chief executives who cannot do their jobs to vacate their post and allow their vice mayors to take over.

Personnel of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7, for their part, said they will abide if Duterte will issue an order instructing police officials to replace local chief executives who fail to lower crime incidents in their areas.

PRO 7 Director Chief Supt. Debold Sinas said he will ask the National Police Commission and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) about Duterte’s pronouncement in Bohol last Thursday.

“Dili ko pwede mag mayor because ang equivalent sa mayor is ang chief of police,” he said.

The President has already asked Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año to conduct an audit on the performance of local government officials in the fight against crimes and illegal drugs.

Sinas, though, said that the crime volume in Cebu and other provinces in the region reduced last year.

In 2017, PRO 7 observed a drop in crimes in Central Visayas as it fell to 55,237 from 60,266 in 2016, or an 8.3 percent decrease.

Transformation

Meanwhile, Sinas said he is “very happy” with the presidency of Duterte, who is starting the third year of his term today.

“There is a great transformation in the police,” he said. “We just found out ingon ani kadako ang problema sa drugs. Dili ang ordinary citizens, pati mga police involved pod.”

Sinas also said they do not have to ask the blessings of governors and mayors before they can be appointed as police chiefs.

“Dili na alalay sa mga mayors lang ang mga chiefs of police,” he said.