City police to intensify anti-robbery drive
To avert the occurrence of robbery and hold up incidents in the city, police chiefs in every district are directed to implement vagrancy ordinance and at the same time intensify intelligence gathering. The campaign is in anticipation of the lean months where crime against property is expected to rise.
Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) Director Senior Supt. Wesley Barayuga said he has already handed down a directive to contain the robbery and hold up cases in the city by implementing anti-criminality measures.
The vagrancy ordinance gives the police authority to arrest persons loitering during unholy hours with no specific areas to go and persons to visit with. The police will also conduct mobile checkpoints every day in the different parts of the city, said Barayuga.
Barayuga said he has also instructed the police chiefs to coordinate with "force multipliers" such as barangay tanods and security guards deployed in different commercial establishments.
Of the city's six districts, the Mandurriao police station has the largest area of coverage. It serves 18 barangays with several commercial establishments and entertainment areas located in the Diversion Road area.
Chief Inspector Orly Gabinete, chief Mandurriao police station, said they started implementing curfew for minors, ban of colorum tricycles, mobile checkpoints and on-the-spot saturation drives.
The conduct of mobile checkpoints and saturation drives is one way to apprehend people carrying loose firearms and deadly weapons which could be used in staging robbery and hold-ups.
The police also seek the help of the barangay officials in conducting barangay patrols or "rondas," said Gabinete.
The help of the barangay officials in the police anti-criminality drive is very important since they are based in their respective barangays. They are familiar with the people in their barangays. They may be holding information which might be of value to public safety, said Gabinete.