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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 'Hindi lang pang-kamote': PNP to use NCAP cameras for quick police response vs criminals

'Hindi lang pang-kamote': PNP to use NCAP cameras for quick police response vs criminals

Published Jun 17, 2025 10:18 am

At A Glance

  • The unexpected show of mass discipline among motorists following the NCAP's re-implementation is what the PNP wants to take advantage of for the five-minute police response being implemented by national police chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III
'SAMPOL': PNP chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III and MMDA chairman Dion Artes show how the NCAP camera system could be used for police response during a press briefing at the MMDA command center in Pasig City on June 16, 2025. (Santi San Juan)
'SAMPOL': PNP chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III and MMDA chairman Dion Artes show how the NCAP camera system could be used for police response during a press briefing at the MMDA command center in Pasig City on June 16, 2025. (Santi San Juan)
Around 16 years ago, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), then headed by now retired police general Roberto Rosales, dreamed of having an interconnected camera system in Metro Manila.
The reason was simple: a real-time monitoring of major streets in Metro Manila would result in strategic deployment of policemen and quick police response, and eventually lead to scaring criminals since both the police visibility and the immediate police action are major crime deterrents.
Rosales even went to the extent of conducting several simulation exercises to show how beneficial the project would be in terms of peace and order—but the project did not materialize due to lack of funding and support.
Fast forward to 2025, the Philippine National Police (PNP) saw the opportunity to realize that dream with the use of the closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) being used to monitor traffic violations under the No-Contact Apprehension Policy (NCAP).
The unexpected show of mass discipline among motorists following the NCAP’s re-implementation is what the PNP wants to take advantage of for the five-minute police response being implemented by national police chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairperson Don Artes said they already had an initial discussion with the PNP leadership as to how the police would be given access to the CCTVs for peace and order matters.
“There was already a preliminary discussion on how these CCTVs could be used in the five-minute police response that PNP chief Gen. (Nicolas) Torre (III) wants to implement,” said Artes.
A number of CCTVs are already installed and most of those artificial-intelligence cameras are already working in strategic areas along EDSA, the country’s busiest road.
Artes earlier said that around 1,000 more CCTVs with AI capability will be installed in other thoroughfares in Metro Manila—and those cameras, due to its high-resolution, could even see through tinted vehicles.
Those CCTVs, which are all connected to a command center at the MMDA office in Pasig City, are what the PNP wants to take advantage of to maximize its “eye on the sky” against criminal elements.
While Torre has been encouraging the public to dial 911 for the five-minute police response, he said it would be different in the case of the areas covered by the MMDA’s CCTV system.
“We will have our personnel here, equipped with a radio that is connected to the PNP Command Center so that the dispatch of our personnel on the ground is quick,” said Torre.
Torre expressed gratitude to MMDA for giving the PNP the access to the CCTV system for peace and order purposes.
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