Civilians to drive police cars

CEBU, Philippines -  The Cebu City Government will deploy again civilian drivers to operate and maintain the Cebu City Police Office’s mobile patrol cars starting tomorrow.

About 20 city hall drivers will be assigned to the patrol cars, and the Cebu City Government assures that the city’s operations will not be affected.

 Philip Zafra, chief of staff of Mayor Michael Rama, said the mayor ordered the redeployment of civilian drivers so the police can maximize their personnel when responding to alarms.

 The mayor has seen the inconvenience on the part of the police driving the vehicles when they still have to park it first before they can join their fellow policemen.

 The City is also concerned about the maintenance of the vehicles.

 Zafra said that the vehicles are poorly maintained because in the first place, it is not the police personnel’s expertise to maintain vehicles.

 Besides, he said, driving the vehicles will add burden to the police personnel who are supposed to concentrate on maintaining peace and order in the city.

 About 33 civilian drivers will be needed because they will be divided in shifts.

 The Mobile Patrol Group of the CCPO has 13 patrol cars, three of which are used to patrol the South Road Properties.

CCPO Director Melvin Ramon Buenafe supports the decision of City Hall. He said this would mean an added workforce for the CCPO.

“We are very happy for that. Now the police will have dedicated personnel to drive and maintain our vehicles,” Buenafe said.

“Maka bwelo na gyud ang mga pulis, kay di naman sila driver na pulis pa gyud,” he said. (Now our policemen can concentrate on their tasks.)

On the issue that some drivers might serve as tipsters to lawless elements like what was observed before, Buenafe assured that they have a remedy for such drawback.

 “We can pre-empt that by recruiting the right persons by screening them properly. Kay di man sad mi-mag pataka og kuha og mga driver,” he said. (We screen our drivers properly.)

 Zafra said that the civilian drivers they will deploy are City Hall employees who have been with the city for a long time and have good records.

 The MPG used to have civilian drivers but this was stopped because of reports that there were drivers who worked with lawless elements as tipsters. Zafra said those were unverified reports.

 Buenafe also asked the City Government to consider investing more on peace and order by providing the police with more patrol cars and equipment.

 “We need more. Because inadequate ang number sa atong mga mobile patrol kay nag tika dako na ang syudad, and we need to make (the police) visible,” he said.  (FREEMAN)