Duterte to field more lawmen to fight crime

DAVAO CITY — About 700 more policemen will be fielded in the city as part of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against criminality and illegal drugs.

This, as Duterte vows to make the city the country’s most peaceful city within the year.

Besides employing more police personnel, he plans to equip them with better communications and more patrol cars.

The additional lawmen, he said, will be deployed in the downtown area and in the more populated barangays where criminals elements have reportedly thrived.

Duterte said special attention should be given the peace and order situation in the city, it being the leading growth center in this part of the country.

Last Thursday, Duterte accepted his appointment as chairman of the Regional Peace and Order Council.

Senior Superintendent Wilfredo Garcia, city police chief, said there has been a big drop in the city’s crime rate since Duterte assumed office last month.

Garcia said Camp Crame noted this in its mid-year performance evaluation of police commands, ranking the city police No. 1 with a 95-percent performance rating.

Duterte sought the help of the city folk in the anti-crime drive, saying the police alone cannot do it. — Edith Regalado