Pasay City Mayor Antonino Calixto has requested for more police personnel from the National Capital Region Police Office to address rising crime in the city.
Lamenting the lack of manpower on the streets, Calixto said he wanted to close the yawning police-to-population ratio, and hew the current deployment in Pasay closer to the ideal ratio of one police officer for every 500 people.
“Crime remains a top concern in our city but we can only do so much with our present complement of police officers,” the mayor said in a statement. “We need to fill in the gaps to increase police presence, improve crime solution, and lower the crime rate by 50 percent,” he said.
Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Llorca, the city police chief, said the current police-to-population ratio in Pasay is 1:1,800.
The mayor enjoined the community to help in the fight against crime and be more than just passive observers. He said he intends to talk to barangay officials in the city as part of strengthening its network of anti-crime volunteers.
Calixto sees the volunteer network as an augmentation force to the police.
The official assured the city’s residents that the setup will enhance police visibility in Pasay, which in turn will be an effective crime deterrent. Having more people watching will also boost the security for both the people and investors of the city, he said.
The mayor instructed Llorca to be proactive in implementing security measures in the Pasay-Baclaran area, which the NCRPO recently identified as one of the top five crime hotspots in the metro. The area is a magnet for both local and foreign tourists looking for cheap bargain goods, and, as it happens, criminals.
He also promised to coordinate with the city government of Paranaque, which shares jurisdiction over Baclaran, so that both local governments implement complementing security plans.
For his part, Llorca said the city police is implementing the Police Integrated Patrol System (Pips), a combination of different police visibility measures to combat crime. The police official said the Pips would pay close attention to several crime-prone areas aside from Baclaran.
“We are maximizing our more than 400 policemen to provide crime-free environment by deploying them in critical areas to strengthen the visibility and response capability of our local police force,” Llorca said.
The police chief said he deployed additional officers to Baclaran to address rising crime in the area.
Aside from the Police Community Precinct 6 in Baclaran, he ordered the construction of “collapsible police outposts” to make it easy for the public “to report crime or even suspicious persons.”
In the first six months of 2013, the Pasay City Police recorded a total of 808 non -index and index crimes in the city, seven percent higher than in the same period a year ago
Index crimes include murder, homicide, physical injuries, rape, robbery, and theft while car thefts, kidnapping, along with smuggling, illegal possession of firearms and explosives, and crimes against chastity are classified as non-index crimes.–MM
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Photo: Ramon F Velasquez
