Computer-illiterate WPD cops struggle with their new PCs

Despite advances like "streaming" mass media and a host of other conveniences available at the tap of a keypad, "Manila’s Finest" remains in the technological dark age and will likely struggle for some time not only with criminals but also with their personal computers.

This became apparent as a cursory survey of police operations showed that some of the best investigators of the Western Police District (WPD) remain uncomfortable with computers, even if only for simple word processing.

One investigator complained that earlier this month, he had already encoded four pages worth of vital data in a case file when heavy rains caused a fluctuation that cut power to his computer and erased the document.

He ranted and raved for several hours and said: "Dapat typewriter na lang ang ginamit ko para hindi kumplikado (I should have used a typewriter so things won’t be complicated)."

He continued to whine until an exasperated colleague, who was snickering at the investigator’s admission that he didn’t know how to save his document, showed him how to recover the missing file. Problem solved, on to crime-busting.

But it’s not that simple for other policemen who are resisting word processors, not because of an inordinate attachment to their manual typewriters but because they don’t know how to use even early-model computers.

"Ngayon lang kasi kami nakahawak ng computer. Hindi ko nga alam yung Microsoft Word, eh (It’s because it’s our first time to use computers. I didn’t even know what Microsoft Word was)," said another senior investigator who was more open to technological improvements in the police force.

"Typewriter ang kinatandaan namin at isang buwan pa lang ang mga computer na ito (We grew old using typewriters and we have had these computers for only a month)," he added.

"The problem is we don’t have time to learn to operate computers," said another veteran investigator, who has solved many serious cases in his 17 years with the WPD.

"We find it a waste of time to learn about computers when we can use the time to pursue the cases we are handling," the homicide prober said.

This attitude toward learning is also evident in the WPD’s leadership which apparently feels no need to give training courses to the policemen.

"We don’t need to give them training courses because they’ll be getting seminars on computer use," said WPD spokesman Chief Inspector Gerry Agunod. He did not explain the distinction.

Agunod also said the second-hand computers that were distributed to various police units should prepare policemen for the long-awaited computerization of the databases of law enforcement agencies.

"With this second-hand computers, we hope our policemen (will) get prepared for the computerization of the entire police criminal record system," Agunod said.

Under the current system, policemen will have to go through a lot of red tape requesting information from other law enforcement agencies, like the National Bureau of Investigation or the Land Transportation Office.

But under the envisioned National Crime Information System (NCIS) computerization program, policemen would be able to quickly identify a person or vehicle, in an office or a police car, at a tap of a computer key.

The NCIS was conceptualized during the Ramos administration but infrastructure problems hindered its implementation until recently.

In March, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) endorsed to the Cabinet the approval of the P446-million fingerprint database project, Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), which was a part of the NCIS program.

The AFIS, long a basic part of law enforcement in other parts of the world, will virtually be funded by the Japanese government, which would pay some P394 million through its general grant aid program.

The Japanese grant will cover the purchase and installation of the equipment, fingerprint collection kits and personnel training.

The Philippine government, on the other hand, will provide counterpart funding of P53.2 for a building for the equipment as well as operation, maintenance and personnel costs.

The fingerprint database system is expected to be fully operational within 19 months after the installation of the equipment in an appropriate building and completion of data conversion.

A fingerprint database project was envisioned in the mid 1990s to consolidate the fingerprint databases of the Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies.

As proposed, the NCIS project would have also consolidated data from the enforcement, prosecution, judicial, correctional and reintegration pillars of the criminal justice system, but the multi-billion NCIS was never fully implemented.