GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 19 Dec) – The Police Regional Office (PRO) 12 is targeting to maintain its clean record in terms of indiscriminate firing cases involving police personnel in the upcoming Christmas and New Year revelries.
Chief Insp. Aldrin Martin Gonzales, PRO-12 public information officer, said Friday all police units and personnel in the region have so far completed the taping of muzzles of all issued service firearms in compliance with a directive from the Philippine National Police (PNP) central office.
He said Chief Supt. Lester Camba, Region 12 police director, led the ceremonial muzzle taping last Monday at the regional police headquarters in Barangay Tambler here.
It was followed by the synchronized muzzle taping activities in all police units within the region’s four provinces and five cities, he said.
“Based on our monitoring, the muzzles of all issued firearms in the region are now taped. The regional office will be closely monitoring all police offices and stations for possible violations,” he told MindaNews.
Gonzales said Chief Supt. Camba earlier issued a directive to all chiefs of police in the region to make sure that the muzzles of all service firearms under their units are properly taped.
He said any personnel who would violate such order would be slapped with possible administrative sanctions.
“They were tasked to regularly monitor all their units and personnel to ensure that their firearms remain properly sealed until their scheduled removal on Jan. 5,” he said.
The official said police personnel would still carry the taped or sealed firearms in their regular duties. But they are only allowed to use their firearms during legitimate operations and in emergency cases that warrant their use.
“For planned operations, we will secure proper clearances to allow us to use our firearms. In case of spontaneous operations, we are authorized to use them but we need to justify them later on,” Gonzales said.
Meantime, in line with the Christmas and New Year holidays, he said all police units in the region will remain on red alert during the period.
Under a red alert, all police and military leave passes are cancelled and all uniformed personnel required to report to their units.
“All our breaks, leaves and vacation privileges are on hold and all our units are on maximum deployment mode,” he added.