Silent guns

Metro police chief Deputy Director General Reynaldo Velasco warned policemen yesterday against firing their guns indiscriminately to greet the New Year.

Velasco said any National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) personnel who violates the directive of Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane "will be dismissed from the police force."

Velasco is set to make the rounds on all police stations and all the five district headquarters in the metropolis to inspect the firearms of all personnel on Monday.

He said that all gun barrels will be sealed with tape, marked with his signature, to ensure that no Metro cop will be able to fire his gun indiscriminately.

"There are more casualties from stray bullets than firecrackers on New Year’s Eve. We must prevent this annual malady of senseless killings and injuries," Velasco pointed out.

"Of course, police officers can use their guns in the exercise of their duties to enforce the law. What they cannot do is use those guns to greet the New Year," he added.

At the Western Police District (WPD), Chief Superintendent Pedro Bulaong said the seals on firearms would be countersigned on Tuesday and checked on the morning of Jan. 1.

"They will have to prove that the guns were fired in the line of duty," Bulaong said.

WPD spokesman Gerry Agunod the sealing of all firearms will be conducted simultaneously at headquarters and all 11 police stations in the city.

"Those who will be found guilty of firing guns indiscriminately on New Year’s Eve will be summarily dismissed from the service and charged criminally and administratively," he said.

Elements from the WPD mobile unit and the Special Weapons and Tactics will be on patrol to make sure that policemen as well as other men in uniform and civilians do not fire their guns during the revelry.