Chief Supt. German Doria, chief of the regional police command, created the “honesty teams” and designated his deputy for operations, Sr. Supt. Rolando Dalangin, to head these teams.
These teams have specific task “to eliminate from the ranks those cops who are engaged in extortion, drug trafficking, bribery, and other illegal activities”, activities that Doria said “had affected public perception about the PNP”.
“Law enforcers should be courteous at all times, especially during the conduct of check or chokepoints and in front desks in police stations,” Doria said, as he confirmed that indeed, some of the police personnel under his command “are engaged in extortion or ‘kotong’, ‘hulidap’, mulcting, bribery, and other lawless acts”.
“In fact,” he said, “police received numerous complaints against cops engaged in illegal activities”.
“Despite our campaign against corruption, we still received complaints from the general public of the illegal activities of some of our men,” he said.
He said cleansing their ranks “is the answer to this perennial problem to enhance the image of the PNP”.
Doria said he formed the honesty teams after finding out that many policemen disregarded his instructions to observe proper courtesy and discipline in doing their tasks.
These teams would be comprised of select personnel from the divisions of Intelligence and Investigation, Operations, Logistics, Community Relations and Comptrollership and with special participation of personnel from the Legal Service.