13 pawnshops, lending institutions violate CCTV ordinance

AROUND 13 pawnshops and lending institutions in Bacolod City were found with no installed closed circuit television (CCTV) camera within their building.

In his letter dated February 11, 2021 addressed to Permits and Licensing Division head Stella Rose Rayos, Police Colonel Manuel Placido, director of Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO), said that they already conducted security survey on different pawnshops and lending institutions in the city and they noted that some of the business establishments have not installed CCTVS.

He said the installation of CCTV is basically part of their anti-criminality campaign as it anchors in the City Ordinance (CO) No. 600 Series 2002 of Bacolod City.

He added that CO No. 600 requires all pawnshops and lending institutions as well as other certain business establishments within the City of Bacolod to install CCTV’S within their premises.

Placido noted that as per BCPO record of crime incidents shows, some of the pawnshops and lending institutions were being targeted by criminal elements particularly robbers, whose installed CCTV is defective or has no CCTV installed at all.

Placido already forwarded the lists of pawnshops and lending institutions to the Permits and Licensing Division for violating CO No. 600.

“These premises were found violating the city ordinance. We at the BCPO believed that through this, we can contribute to the prevention of occurrence of crime in the city and assist our police investigators in easily solving the crime incident, if in case there is,” Placido said.

Rayos could not be reached for comment as of press time./map