8 of 10 cop probers lack skills - PNP

MANILA, Philippines - Eight out of 10 police officers handling criminal investigation nationwide lack formal training and skills, jeopardizing the cases, the Philippine National Police (PNP) admitted yesterday.

A document obtained by The STAR showed that there are 3,781 police officers occupying investigative positions in nine regions, but only 908 of them, or roughly 24 percent, have formal training on case investigation.

The document stated that the remaining 2,873 police probers, or 75.98 percent, do not have any basic training on how to handle the investigation but they nevertheless probe cases like crime incidents.

The figure is expected to go up when the other six regions, including Metro Manila and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), shall have submitted their data to the PNP-Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM).

DIDM chief Director Arturo Cacdac said the evaluation of PNP personnel occupying investigative positions was part of the effort to address some of the dysfunctions in the PNP.

Cacdac said 80 percent of personnel tasked as investigators have not undergone any basic investigation course.

He said one of the areas that needs immediate attention is the lack of competent and effective field investigators who possess the skills and the right attitude to work on a case and pursue it until resolved by the courts.

“Police officers are the first responders, thus we really need to give our law enforcers the basic knowledge on crime scene preservation and other field training,” he said, admitting that there are fresh recruits assigned to investigation units despite being new to the service.

Cacdac said the PNP has started the program to address the problems and so far there were two batches of police officers who have completed the 45-day basic course on investigation.

He said the agency’s “investigative capability project” is focused on the development of human resources and formulation of needed basic and standard procedures in the conduct of investigation of crimes.

Since assuming office, PNP chief Director General Raul Bacalzo has been pushing for “back to basics” programs to ensure that all the 135,000 policemen have the basic training and knowledge on police investigation.

Bacalzo admitted that at present, many police officers do not have the basic skills like handcuffing a suspect, patrol operations and case investigation, and do not know the Miranda doctrine.

The Miranda doctrine requires police officers to inform a suspect being arrested of his right to remain silent and the right to have a lawyer, among others.

Based on the records furnished by nine police regional offices, the Calabarzon (Region 4-A) police has 719 police investigators but only 168 have basic training on case investigation. Calabarzon covers Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon.

Of the 543 police investigators in the Ilocos Region (Region 1), 402 do not have proper training on investigation, while in Western Visayas (Region 6) only 77 of the 451 police investigators underwent training and 374 needed related seminars.

In Southern Mindanao (Region 11), there are 409 policemen assigned to investigation units but only 42 of them know what they are doing, while 367 need training.

In the Caraga region, there are 338 police investigators but 280 of them admitted having no formal education on investigation. Only 58 police officers have training.

In Cagayan Valley (Region 2), of the 378 police investigators, 119 underwent training and 259 did not.

The Cordillera police reported that it has 358 police investigators, 154 had training while 201 have none. In Eastern Visayas (Region 8), only 61 of the 215 police investigators have basic training and 154 need training.