By Martin Sadongdong
The Philippine National Police (PNP) is striving to establish a close coordination among its stakeholders at the barangay level to further improve its operations and achieve a full transformation of the 195,000-strong police organization.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
As such, a Station Advisory Council for Police Transformation and Development (SACPTD) is being created in every police station across the country to guide the troops on the ground.
The creation of SACPTD in every police station is part of the PNP Patrol Plan 2030 which aims to guide police in an advisory level in its field work.
This decision was made after the PNP was initiated into the Performance Governance System (PGS), a performance management system which uses a balanced scorecard technology to attain its vision, in September 2009. This also shows that the public plays an important role in aiding the police to achieve their jobs.
Collaboration for transformation
The SACPTD of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD)'s Project 4 Police Station (PS-8), composed of representatives from the business, religious and professional sectors, is aiming to be the first advisory council in Metro Manila to achieve the "institutionalization" stage under the PNP's Performance Government System (PGS). It is the last of the four stages of the PNP's PGS and the QCPD PS-8 has already passed the first three stages namely the initiation, compliance and proficiency stages.
Supt. Ophelio Concina Jr., station commander of the QCPD PS-8, said their SACPTD has been active since the PNP's initiation into the PGS in 2009.
"This coordination between the PNP and the advisory council is very important especially in our campaign against illegal drugs," Concina told the Manila Bulletin in a phone interview.
He said that with the help of the advisory council, they were able to identify the drug dependents in all of the 17 barangays under the jurisdiction of the QCPD PS-8.
"We have identified the drug dependents, we encouraged them to surrender through Oplan Tokhang. They are giving us feedback and inputs as to how we can improve our operations," he said.
The collaboration between the QCPD PS-8 and its SACPD bore fruit as just recently, Concina said they have only been monitoring one barangay for its drug infestation.
Concina said that they are also conducting a regular consultative meeting with their SACPTD every third week of the month to discuss what the local police station needs to improve in the conduct of their duty.
Regular meetings
Just recently, the QCPD PS-8 and the SACPTD held its regular meeting and presented the latest achievements in their campaign against criminality and illegal drugs, and their efforts in reaching out to the community through various activities.
He said that the crime volume of the QCPD PS-8 for the month of March alone was 54, which was comparatively lower to their target of 79.
Aside from that, they have also recorded in the first quarter of 2018 a total of 2,341 community awareness activities, which noted a big improvement fromt their target of 1,125 activities. The said activities include dialogues or "Pulong-pulong," symposia and lectures on crime prevention, public safety, illegal drugs disaster preparedness, gender awareness development and human rights among others.
They have also organized 211 sectoral groups from their target 192 in the same time frame.
Raul Addatu, chair of the QCPD PS-8's SACPDT and the chairman in Barangay Marilag, Quezon City, noted that establishing a close coordination between the police and its stakeholders is very important in shaping a better barangay.
"We act as advisors to the police commander and his officers on how they can improve their work. We are their eyes in the barangay because we give them feedback from the various sectors including business, religious, youth, education and others.
Addatu noted the creation of their Station Police Strategy Management Unit (SPSMU) Office right inside the QCPD PS-8 has boosted their efforts in achieving the institutionalization stage of the PNP's PGS. The SPSMU office was established in October 2017 and this is where their monthly consultative meetings are being conducted.
"Should we get this feat, we would be able to determine the best practices of the police stations and apply it to our own. This will serve as benchmark for other police stations across the country," said Addatu, who is also part of the advisory council of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) representing the academe.
Addatu also said that just last month, then PNP chief Director General Ronald Dela Rosa administered the conferment of Performance Governance System (PGS) 'Proficient' status to several PNP units for satisfying the mandatory requirements for the third stage of PGS, including the National Capital Region Police Office from where the QCPD PS-8 is included.