PNP to ask politicians to get private detectives as escorts

MANILA, Philippines - Politicians will be asked to get the services of private detectives instead of using policemen as security escorts.

Chief Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome, Philippine National Police spokesman, said private detectives acting as security escorts will be placed under the supervision of the PNP’s Security Agency and Guards Supervision Division.

“The PNP needs more warm bodies to patrol the streets to improve police visibility,” he said.

Chief Superintendent Josefino Cataluña, Police Security and Protection Group (PSPG) director, said his men are now securing 871 government officials and private individuals,

The National Police Commission chairman and the PNP chief can detail police escorts for over 180 days with extension to secure private individuals with threats to their lives, he added.

The PSPG director, as well as regional, provincial and city police chiefs, can detail policemen as security escorts for 30 days without extension, Cataluña said.

In July 2006, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno ordered the PNP to recall some 2,800 policemen detailed as security escorts of government officials and private citizens.

At the time, Puno said the policemen would be deployed in rebel-infested areas to maintain peace and order and assist the military in the counterinsurgency campaign.

He had directed the PNP to expedite the formulation of guidelines for a law allowing civilians to hire private security escorts.

Government officials and private citizens whose lives are under threat can seek protection from other law enforcement agencies, he added.

In response, the PNP Civil Security Group launched a program to encourage private individuals to undergo training and become licensed security escorts.

The PSPG is mandated to provide protective security to authorized government officials, private individuals, and foreign dignitaries, as well as physical security to selected vital government installations, and assists the Presidential Security Group (PSG) in securing the President and members of the First Family.

Under the law, key government officials entitled to protective security are the Vice President, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court Chief justice, and the Interior and Local Government Secretary.

Private individuals, by virtue of their former positions, entitled to police security upon request are: former presidents, former vice presidents, widows of former presidents, and former PNP chiefs.

Private individuals requesting for police security escorts should prove that he or she is under actual threats of death and/or physical harm, according to the PSPG.