Cops told to do more night roving amid robbery cases

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – Mayor Alfredo “Albee” Benitez has called the attention of all 10 police stations here to ensure more roving patrols, especially during nighttime.

This, after he received reports via “Isugid Mo Kay Mayor” radio program over the weekend about some robbery and theft incidents here in the past days.

“May complainants saying na kulang police visibility,” Benitez said, adding that he had already brought it to the attention of Police Colonel Noel Aliño, director of Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO).

Benitez said the people wanted to see more active roving of policemen in villages.

Benitez said that there were three incidents reported to him, but only one incident for this month was officially reported to the police, based on the data that was provided to him by the BCPO.

In a press briefing on Monday, Benitez said that the police can tap the force multipliers to help them conduct the roving.

The mayor said that other personnel can also augment the BCPO to do the clerical stuff. This way, the police can go out for patrolling, he added.

When asked if there’s a need for additional policemen here, Benitez said that he is not sure if the city could increase the number of the city police force, as he stressed that it is the responsibility of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to assess.

Last week, Aliño ordered all station commanders to coordinate with the barangays to conduct joint patrols. This includes barangay tanods and crime volunteers in their areas of jurisdiction.

Two young men were arrested in Barangay Singcang-Airport here after they were allegedly caught stealing mechanical tools inside a vehicle on January 17. Police also recovered from them one gram of suspected shabu.

“Itong two arrested na magnanakaw ay isa po iyan sa magandang result sa implemented police interventions na ginawa,” Aliño said.

He also directed station commanders to probe all incidents and file cases against the perpetrators.

The BCPO is urging the victims to report the incidents to the police stations so that they can be properly investigated, instead of posting it on social media.

Meanwhile, Benitez said that they are planning to put up additional closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras for monitoring at the temporary command center in Barangay Taculing.

“That’s the only way if you want the city to be safe and ensure na wala crimes sa city, we should have a very efficient CCTV program para kung may violations, madakpan sila dayon,” he added.

Benitez said that there should be more CCTVs in streets to easily monitor offenses. “Daw eye in the sky bala. Hindi man mabantayan sang pulis tanan na balay diri kay tam-an ka dako sang area,” he added.

Benitez said they would check if they could be able to do it this year.