DAVAO CITY — Due to the increasing number of population and the wide jurisdiction among police precincts, the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) will establish eight new police stations (PS) to ensure everyone’s safety and community participation.
The establishment of additional precincts was an order from the Philippine National Police headquarters but the order is silent where the funds to build the additional precincts will be charged.
Colonel Kirby John Kraft in a statement said the additional stations aim to bolster the DCPO’s policing mission of ‘keeping Dabawenyos safe against all forms of criminality”.
“The additional stations will be taken from the existing six (6) big police stations based on their population, area, development, and crime situation,” Kraft said.
The new police stations will be located in the following areas of the city: PS 13-Bajada (from PS 1-Sta. Ana); PS 14-Torres (from PS 2-San Pedro); PS 15-Ecoland; PS16-Ma-a; PS 17-Baliok (from PS 3-Talomo); PS 18-Mandug (from PS 5 Buhangin); PS 19-Catigan (from PS 8-Toril); Eden; and, PS 20-Los Amigos (from PS 9-Tugbok).
For the Talomo district alone, three new police stations are being proposed. Aguilar said.
Talomo is one of the busiest police stations as it is located near the city Poblacion, it is also one of the city’s biggest barangay in terms of the voter population.
Most of these new police stations will stand in thickly populated areas.
Captain Rose Aguilar, DCPO spokesperson, on Tuesday, told Newsline that the new stations will be established as soon as the lot where these will be erected is ready.
Under the new structure, each precinct must have at least 54 personnel. She said they can re-channel PNP to new stations if necessary because there are police stations with many personnel.
DCPO has been classified as a Class “A” police office and under its new classification is required to have a minimum of 20 police stations.
“We were required to construct 20 more police stations in highly urbanized cities like here in Davao,” she quipped.
“This will improve police services like police visibility, faster response time, and better police-community relation,” he said. Kraft added that its establishment complied with the requirement of the national headquarters of the Philippine National Police.
The construction of the new precincts will greatly depend on the support that DCPO can get from the city government, Aguilar added.-Editha Z. Caduaya/Newsline.ph
