THE ANTI-SCALAWAG unit of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday reported that more erring personnel were arrested last year as part of internal cleansing efforts.
Data from the Integrity Monitoring Enforcement Group (IMEG) showed 52 cops were arrested in 2019, an 18-percent increase from 44 in 2018.
PNP-IMEG spokesperson, Capt. Mae Ann Cunanan attributed this to the increased awareness of the public on available means of communication in reporting erring cops.
“The public became more aware to report on our hotline or Facebook page. The number of cops we are monitoring was also increased. They know where they can report, they also know what they should report and they are aware of the crimes of cops,” Cunanan told reporters in a chance interview.
Since 2017, the IMEG has arrested a total of 147 rogue cops, 47 percent of whom were involved in robbery-extortion.
Meanwhile, other erring personnel were either involved in illegal drugs or gambling.
The PNP-IMEG was also given more personnel to monitor, surveillance, and process case build-up against rogue cops.
"Pinadami yung tao ngayon, pinalakas nya yung puwersa ng IMEG [There was an increase in manpower so the force of the IMEG is now stronger," she stressed.
From an initial 70 personnel, Cunanan said the IMEG has now 180 personnel. This is still far from the 300 police officers needed for the unit to be fully functional.
The IMEG has also tapped the help of the Internal Affairs Service (IAS) of the PNP for fast processing of the administrative cases, she added.
IMEG is the primary unit for information gathering and conduct of offensive operations against erring police personnel.
Upon his assumption, PNP chief, Gen. Archie Gamboa said erring PNP personnel will be reprimanded, castigated or dismissed from the service if necessary.
He added that police officers proven to have committed derogatory acts would either be delisted from the service or charged with criminal and administrative cases. (By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan)
No comments:
Post a Comment