PNP to deploy 30,000 personnel for holiday season  

MANILA, Philippines — To ensure police visibility this holiday season, the Philippine National Police (PNP) yesterday said it would assign almost 30,000 of its personnel as force multipliers.

Police chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin said that aside from the 192,000 policemen to be deployed during the holidays, the PNP also has more than 29,400 force multipliers ready to be deployed.

“They will be deployed in case we need to, to ensure high police presence,” Azurin told dzBB in Filipino.

He added that police assistance desks are also put up in convergence areas, as well as motorist assistance centers along major highways.

“Members of the police should be very visible, so anytime the people need assistance, they are ready,” Azurin said.

The police has not recorded any major incident since the Simbang Gabi started on Friday. He however cautioned people to always be careful when going out to places of convergence to prevent crimes.

Azurin earlier said about 85 percent of the police force, which include mobile patrol units, will be deployed during the holiday season.