CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga - The Police Regional Office 3 (PRO3) launched last Monday a "text brigade" as one of its new impact projects to further gain the trust and confidence of the community and generate support for the Philippine National Police's (PNP's) anti-crime campaign in Central Luzon. "I-Text Mo, Aksyonan Ko!" is the battlecry of the PRO3 Text Volunteers' Brigade, which Chief Superintendent Alan La Madrid Purisima described as an added avenue for the public to gain access to the PNP. The launching held at PRO3 in Camp Olivas on February 14, 2011 was graced by no less than the Chief, PNP Police Director General Raul Maclalad Bacalzo as Guest of Honor and Speaker. Supt. Karen Clark, PRO3 information officer, said the program is a short messaging system in which volunteers may send through cellular phone text or short messaging system (SMS) any of their complaints, requests for assistance, and tip-offs. "Through this system, the public can be assured of action on their report while being guaranteed a feedback," said Clark.
She said it also aims to raise the level of people's cooperation and reduce the "level of fear" as they can easily report crime incidents. Speaking during the launch, Director-General Raul M. Bacalzo, PNP Chief, said: "This (text brigade project) would be advantageous to the PNP for better law enforcement." Purisima, who initiated the project, said volunteers will be issued with an ID card which should be activated first before it is considered valid and for the holder to start sending text messages.
The PNP also launched simultaneously the criminal investigation course for police investigators. The program aims to promote a standard system of education in investigation and improve the investigative capability of every police prober. At present, the PRO3 has 798 personnel assigned to investigation units but only 217 or 27.19% of them had formal training on investigation. To train them now is part of Bacalzo's eight foundation initiatives. A simultaneous conduct of Criminal Investigation Course (CIC) with the duration of 45 days is now underway to nourish and enhance the skills, basic knowledge and technical procedures on investigation of every police investigator.
