BAGUIO CITY – The Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) disclosed that some three hundred seventy policemen and policewomen have been assigned in the city to undergo their field-based training before their integration as organic members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the coming months.
BCPO Acting City Director Police Col. Allen Rae F. Co said that of the newly assigned law enforcers, 250 are rookie policemen and policewomen while 120 are new police officers who availed of the PNP’s lateral entry program and are now undergoing the necessary training with the local police force.
Under the PNP field training program, the new law enforcers are required to undergo patrol, traffic and investigation trainings for a phased 6-month period before being formally given their assignments in the different police stations either inside or outside the Cordillera.
The police official disclosed that of the over 3,700 policemen who passed the PNP’s lateral entry program, 164 new police officers came from the Cordillera with 120 being assigned to BCPO for their own training as new Police Lieutenants.
He explained that based on the field training program, the new law enforcers are mandated to report from 8 am to 5 pm from Mondays to Saturdays while Sundays are their regular day off.
The BCPO officer appealed for utmost understating from the public when they see police officers who are winding up their presence in their assignments by 5 pm because these are the ones undergoing their field-based training in the city and that their tour of duty is only from 8 am to 5 pm.
According to him, the different police stations in the different parts of the country continue to get a portion of the number of policemen being recruited by the PNP annually to help improve the policeman to population ratio, especially in areas the need to have a good number of law enforcers to address prevailing peace and order issues in their areas of jurisdiction.
He claimed that Baguio city being a highly urbanized city is still lucky to have a decent number of policeman to population ratio considering its identity as one of the prime tourist destinations in the country.
As one who has learned to love Baguio, the police official expressed his gratitude to the local government led by Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan and the community for their unrelenting and uncompromising support to the anti-criminality, peacekeeping, anti-insurgency and anti-terrorism efforts that will contribute in efforts to make the city a decent place to study, work, live and do business.
Last year, Baguio city was adjudged as the 6th Safest City in Southeast Asia based on an online survey of visitors that visited various cities in the entire region.
For the first 4 months of this year, BCPO recorded a 27 percent decline in crime incidents that were committed compared to the number of crime incidents that were reported during the same period last year.
By Dexter A. See
