PNP prepares for info drive on use of bodycams for its personnel
Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), has ordered a massive information drive for operating policemen on the rules issued by the Supreme Court in using the body-worn cameras and in serving search and arrest warrants.
Eleazar said he had already tasked the number three man of the PNP, Lt. Gen. Israel Ephraim Dickson, to coordinate with the Legal Service and the Human Rights Afairs Office (HRAO) on how to go about the information drive for all operating units in the PNP.
“While the Supreme Court Rules is yet to be implemented, it is but proper for us to be ready because aside from the fact that this is a product of cooperation between the PNP and the High Court, this will form part of our operational procedures,” said Eleazar.
The 17-page Resolution, which includes the Rules on the Use of Body-Worn Cameras in Serving Warrants, was issued on Friday.
The Rules specified the entire process of serving search warrant, from the moment the policemen apply for the search warrant up to the storage, chain of custody and access to the video recording.
Nearly 3,000 BWCs were procured by the PNP from the P300 million fund allocated by the Congress. But the BWCs are not enough since the PNP needs more or less 30,000 more to cover the entire police units across the country.
The BWCs were already distributed in various police units, mostly in Metro Manila and big cities.
On Saturday, Eleazar also ordered the creation of a Technical Working Group (TWG) that would study and incorporate the SC rules on the existing protocols of the PNP.