GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 3 June) – The Police Regional Office 12 is sending the city’s police officials “back to school” in the wake of the recent rise in criminal incidents, especially unsolved murders, in the area.
Senior Supt. Manolito Labador, Region 12 police deputy director for administration, said they have set an intensive crime prevention training for the city’s eight police station chiefs to “educate” them on various strategies in addressing crime-related incidents that occur within their areas of responsibility.
“Our police chiefs are also going back to school and we will teach them how to resolve these incidents and in implementing their other duties and mandates,” Labador said.
He said the five-day training, which is set this week, is aimed at further strengthening the capability of local police stations and personnel in preventing the occurrence of various crimes and resolving some of the pending cases in the area.
The official said their main priority is to effectively address the rising cases of daring killings in the area in the past several weeks.
In the past week alone, the city police office said they have already recorded eight murder cases perpetrated by suspects “riding-in-tandem” on unmarked motorcycles.
Three of the killings happened last May 26 and one each on May 27 and 29. Three more cases were added to the list in the last two days.
Supt. Rolly Octavio, deputy city police director for operations, earlier said that some of the victims appeared to have links with groups involved in the illegal drug trade and could have been casualties of a local “drug war.”
The police official said they have intensified their security patrols and random inspections on motorists within the city in the wake of the daring murders.
He said the heightened operations were part of the continuing implementation of operation plans or Oplans “Sita” and “Kapkap,” which were earlier adopted by the city police to curb the rising cases of shooting incidents and other related street crimes in the area.
During the training, Labador said they have scheduled various workshops and study sessions focusing on the crime cases that were recorded in the city’s eight police stations.
He said they will determine the area or police station that posted the highest crime incidents these past months and adopt it as the focal area of their studies.
Labador said they will tackle other problems affecting the police stations and set the necessary operational strategies that will address them.
“We will eventually come up with a comprehensive anti-crime program for each police station,” the official said.
Labador said the eight police station chiefs will be given the proper support to ensure that they will properly implement their incoming anti-crime programs.
But the said police officials who would fail to implement them and will not be able to solve crime-related problems in their areas will be facing sanctions and possible relief from their assignments.