PNP to heighten police visibility in communities

THE Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday said it will deploy more policemen to the barangays particularly those classified as crime-prone communities in keeping with its commitment to heighten efforts against criminality.

PNP information chief Col. Redrico Maranan said police visibility has been proven effective in discouraging criminals.

“The identification of crime-prone barangays is necessary for our deployment. These are the areas where our personnel would be deployed and our commanders were already advised to properly implement it and conduct supervision so that these are done properly,” Maranan said in a radio interview.

Maranan also said the plan to deploy more policemen to the community was meant to optimize anti-crime efforts despite shortage of personnel to increase civilian-policeman ratio in the country.

“The PNP cannot deploy policemen in each of the barangay. What we do is to cluster the barangays and then we either put up police community precincts, police assistance desks, or even a police outpost,” Maranan said.

“We believe that if this is properly implemented, we would be able to reduce the crime, especially in the crime-prone barangays,” he said.

Maranan underscored the significance of strong coordination and cooperation between the police and the communities.

Maranan disclosed that newly appointed PNP chief Benjamin Acorda, Jr. also wants all complaints from the people are immediately addressed.

Maranan also said police patrols were instructed to regularly visit schools in coordination with the concerned barangay officials.

He said the police were ordered to be on the lookout for students smoking cigarettes or vaping where were prohibited by the school authorities.