Garma to pull out 200 cops from office to field

At least 200 personnel assigned in the headquarters of Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) will be deployed back to different police stations in the city.

The additional force will help guard the entry and exit points of identified drugaffected villages 24 hours a day and seven days a week, according to Senior Superintendent Royina Garma, the newly-installed CCPO director.

"So what I'm doing right now is to check if we have enough personnel to do the job at nakita ko mayroon naman so I'm of recalling police officers detailed to other offices. Downloading ng mga personnel natin from the headquarters para naman mailagay sa police station so there will be more police officers sa field," she said.

CCPO has over 300 personnel.

"That's overcrowded," said the new police chief.

Garma said similar template has been used by Davao City police to curb criminalities there.

She said she will focus more on crime prevention which is why she wants more policemen on the ground.

"They will strengthen our police stations kasi sila talaga iyung nasa ground sila iyung nasa community sila ang malapit. Sila dapat ang equipped hindi lang sa human resource but also iyung may kakayahan ba sila to move? To communicate? Iyun ang iaddress natin," she said.

She said there will be increased patrolling of areas.

She said the police will also be closely coordinating with the barangay officials and tanods.

Among Garma's directives to all station commanders is to subdivide their area of responsibility. Each sector must have its own mobile patrol cars and foot patrollers to immediately respond to alarms, she said.

Also, station commanders are directed to account all their personnel, equipment and vehicles for additional manpower and allocation of resources. —