3-minute response time

A retired Police General shared a funny joke but actually took a dig at fellow cops. The joke is about the bragging exchange at the sidelines in a conference of top cops around the world. A Filipino Police General is in the midst of the spirited debate between the police chiefs from Russia and the United States. Their talks went on this way:

“In Moscow, when a crime is reported, our policemen arrive within 7 minutes,” the Russian police chief boasted.

“That’s too slow. In the United States, our policemen arrive within 5 minutes to stop the crime,” the American police chief interjected.

The Filipino Police General snickered at both his Russian and American counterparts. “Both of your police response times are awfully very slow.”

The Russian and American top cops naturally were flabbergasted at the Pinoy boast. The two chorused in asking: “So how fast are policemen in the Philippines?”

“In the Philippines, police are immediately at the scene of the crime,” he quickly retorted.

Showing extreme disbelief, the Russian and American Police Generals growled at the Pinoy Police General: “Impossible! How can they do that?”

The Filipino Police General quickly drew his service firearm to dramatize his point: “Because the policemen are themselves the criminals!”

Such hilarious take on some of the crimes taking place in our country sadly involved police or military men as the perpetrators.

The worse part is, this very small number of bad eggs tarnishes the overall image of the entire police and the military establishment. Even if purportedly former or dishonorably discharged cops or soldiers were the ones involved, it certainly does not lessen the gravity of their involvement. In certain heinous crimes they committed, government-issued firearms were used in their criminal activities. At times, they even still wear police or military camouflage uniforms in doing their crimes.

At the recent meeting of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC), the 17 Mayors in the national capital region (NCR) are literally wowed by a demonstration on the speed and efficiency of police response system being implemented by the Quezon City Police District (QCPD). As the sitting Malacanang-designated chairman of the RPOC of the NCR, San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora suggested to his fellow Metro Manila Mayors it could be done and be replicated if supported by their respective local government units (LGUs).

Mayor Zamora is particularly thankful to fellow Mayor, Joy Belmonte of Quezon City for sharing with them the “best practices” that would further improve the peace and order situation in the country’s capital region. Mayor Zamora notably was impressed at how the QC policemen are able to respond “within three minutes” to emergency calls, requests for police assistance, or reporting about crimes.

Also as the elected chairman of the Metro Manila Mayors Council, Mayor Zamora believes all of them can implement the same police response time policy. “We share with each other the ‘best practices.’ We’re not competing with each other,” Mayor Zamora pointed out. 

As explained in the QCPD presentation, Zamora cited, the deployment of policemen use the electronic tagging of their police patrol cars. The location and movement of QCPD police patrol cars can be seen in the electronic boards. From the electronic board, the police station chief will readily see where are the nearest policemen assigned at each of the QC patrol cars. Thus, the QCPD can readily deploy the police patrol car within the proximity of the place or area where the call for police help is needed.

Like Zamora, Mayor Belmonte, who just turned 50 years old earlier this month, is now on second term at her City Hall office. Under her stewardship, the Quezon City government received the 2022 Seal of Good Local Governance award from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). The QC local government also received for the second straight year a “Beyond Compliant” rating during the 22nd Gawad Kalasag (GK) Seal for exceeding the standards as mandated of their Local Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) Council and Office.

For her outstanding feats, Mayor Belmonte was among the 100 Most Empowered Women of the Year recognized and awarded by Gawad Pilipino. She is currently the executive vice president of the League of Cities of the Philippines. She is the only daughter of former Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and the late founding chairman of The Philippine Star, Betty Go.

 Following the “best practice” of the QC Mayor, the San Juan City Mayor vows to apply the digital technology to further enhance the police visibility in their anti-crime campaign. Mayor Zamora believes the installation of electronic tags to all the San Juan City 15 police cars will certainly enable their policemen to attend to the calls for help by their residents at the shortest possible time.

Being “hands on” in his job, the 46-year old Mayor revealed he even joins in police raids, especially against suspected drug dens. Now Mayor Zamora – who stands 6.5 feet tall – is always surrounded by equally tall policemen-security team. This we saw when he joined us at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay last March 15.

Running for eight years already, our Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum featured Mayor Zamora as anniversary guest. A few days before the March 16, 2020 nationwide lockdown was imposed, he turned out to be our last guest when indoor gatherings were disallowed. We turned our news forum into zoom webinar. But since July 20 last year, we returned to our venue at Café Adriatico in Malate.

As the Mayor of San Juan City, Zamora vows his every intention to implement the same “three-minute police response time” using digital technology to run after criminals and result to their immediate arrests. “I can follow that policy,” he quipped.

Especially so, Mayor Zamora announced, when San Juan City will become the site of the new headquarters of the Eastern Police District (EPD) two years from now. Currently, the EPD is housed behind Pasig City Hall. The three-minute response time will be the norm of the police by that time.