About 1,000 policemen are deemed “armed and dangerous” as the Philippine National Police have them under surveillance for suspected illegal activities like protecting crime rings or engaging in extortion.
Meanwhile, the PNP wants to publish names of its new recruits to allow the public to report those with pending criminal cases who still want to join the force, Director General Oscar Albayalde said Monday.
The PNP’s Counter-Intelligence Task Force said it received complains through text messages of supposed “rogue” cops, who Albayalde said he would give a chance to surrender peacefully if they are indeed being arrested.
“Remember, these are armed [men] because they have been issued firearms. These [cops] are considered armed and dangerous, especially since they are into illegal activities,” Albayalde said.
Last week, the CITF said it filed complaints against 194 officers, 74 of them arrested in various operations, since the unit headed by Senior Supt. Romeo Caramat was founded four months ago.
Caramat said all his units’ operations were done “by the book,” but agents would defend themselves if the suspects resisted arrest.
One incident involved a police officer accused of coddling slain drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz. The official was killed after allegedly firing at CITF officers in Cebu City on Monday.
Meanwhile, publishing the names of would-be policemen was part of the PNP’s plan to scrutinize recruits seeking to join its ranks, Albayalde said.
Citing the more than 1,176 policemen on the CITF’s watch list of rogue law enforcers, the PNP chief said these policemen “are more lethal than criminals.”
The proposed reforms in the recruitment process, Albayalde said, include replacing the “OJT” or On The Job phase of recruitment with commando training, similar to the PNP’s elite Special Action Force.
“Unlike before, when they are in the OJT phase, their officers see where is it good for them to be assigned,” the police chief explained.
Under the proposed recruitment reform, an officer who conducted and signed off on the background investigation of a would-be policeman—who later turns out to have pending criminal cases—will also be sanctioned, Albayalde said.
“We will also indicate who conducted the BI [background investigation]. If they have a record, we will get back at the police officer who conducted the BI,” he added.
Continued police operations will be undertaken with programs to weed out misfits and scalawags, Albayalde said. “Unbridled” police operations without monitoring of police personnel tend to promote bad habits such as recycling of evidence and drugs, he added.
