Gov't fast-tracks hiring of police personnel to deter crimes

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The government is accelerating the processing of applications for more than 31,000 vacancies in the Philippine National Police (PNP) to increase police visibility and address criminality in the country, a senior government official said today.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma. Jr. told a news briefing that the government wants to improve the coverage capability of police officers with the hiring of more personnel.

"In order to meet the ideal police to population ratio, the Chief PNP instructed the concerned Directorial Staff and National Support Units (NSUs) to fast track processing of applications to fill-up 18,568 vacancies for police officer and 13,000 positions for non-uniformed personnel as authorized by the National Police Commission," he said.

He noted that recently the PNP replaced uniformed personnel performing administrative functions with civilian employees and redeployed them to field operations to improve the coverage capability of police officers.

With a current strength of 148,000, the police officer to population ratio is one for every 675 citizens, he said.

"With the hiring of additional police officers, this ratio will improve to one police officer for every 579 citizens," Coloma added.

He said that increased police visibility may serve as a deterrent against crimes, as patrols and checkpoints may lessen opportunities for criminal elements, especially if there will also be heightened citizen vigilance and cooperation with the police.