By Glazyl Masculino
BACOLOD CITY – The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo) here is assessing factors and strategies that can help them address the series of shooting incidents, particularly those perpetrated by motorcycle-riding suspects (MRS).
Based on the data from Nocppo, 41 cases of shooting incidents perpetrated by MRS were recorded from January 1 to March 15, 2021.
La Castellana town and San Carlos City had the highest number of shooting incidents with 5 and 4, respectively. But, only one incident in each of these areas are still under probe.
Police Lieutenant Abegael Donasco, Nocppo’s information officer, said that these incidents were not neglected.
In fact, Nocppo records showed that 14 cases were already solved, three were cleared, and 24 are still under investigation.
Donasco said the tasks to probe these incidents were already given to the investigators. “Hindi naman pinapabayaan,” she added.
Donasco said any crime can be considered alarming, depending on the degree and the manner of how it was committed.
Donasco said shooting incidents can be attributed to many factors, and one of which is grudges. “We cannot control it,” she added.
With this, Donasco said they are discussing some strategies during their Enhanced Managing Police Operations (EMPO) after assessing the situation to determine measures to prevent this from happening.
We can then apply on the ground what we have discussed during the EMPO, like putting up more checkpoint operations, and deployment of best patrollers especially in areas identified with the most number of criminal incidents, she added.
She also said that they will continue to implement the House Integrated Support (HIS) for peace, wherein policemen visit households to provide goods, and check vehicles to prevent individuals from using any accessory, cars, or motorcycles in any crime.
“Through this kasi, parang matatakot na sila to commit a crime, kasi alam na ng pulis if registered ba talaga ang vehicles or not,” Donasco said.
But, she clarified that such measure is not like ‘Tokhang’, since police officers just visit houses randomly as part of their community involvement program.
She said the HIS for peace was an initiative of the Police Regional Office (PRO)-6, and is also being implemented in the province.
