Rey Anthony Chiu

Bolstering Bohol crime incidence reporting is a system Bohol police is set to put in place in April. Bohol Police Chief, SSupt. Constantino Barot explained that the new crime incidence reporting system is computer based, thus also referred to as e-blotter, will greatly affect police coordination in the pursuit of criminals using the porous inter-town boundaries to their advantage. At the Talakayan sa Isyung Pulis (TSIP) Wednesday in Jagna town, PSSUpt Barot said the e-Blotter System is a priority program of PNP Chief Director General Nicanor A. Bartolome. Police sources said the system is geared to “enhance the crime reporting system for effective law enforcement, public safety and efficient administration of justice” utilizing modern technology, such as computers and the Internet. This means that the daily logs in the station are encoded for easy transmission and sharing, in the hope that these blotter entries can be checked by authorities in nearby towns, before the criminal could slip off.

The system links all police stations in the province through internet connectivity and uses a common program that allows inter-station access to relevant information in real time. Also at the recent Provincial Peace and Order Council meeting last week, Barot revealed the plan not only to put up not the e-blotter but also the e–warrants and e-rogues. The e-warrants allows any law enforcement officer to access a database of warrants issued by any courts to check if any of their residents have aw enforcement problems elsewhere and are just hiding in their areas. This means that a police officer can just access the court issued warrant, and print it to serve it to any person upon whom the warrant is subjected to, police sources add. A Manila court may issue a warrant and put it in a database which can be accessed by any investigator. If a police officer or investigator finds a warranted subject in his area, he can just download the warrant from the system, print it and serve immediately without having to wait for Manila based police team to deliver the warrant.

On the other hand, also set are e-rogues; or an internet-based online electronic gallery of suspected persons, for easy reference by criminal investigators. Set in a Bohol milieu, the e-blotter, warrants and rogues gallery could have technical problems in areas where internet connectivity is slow or nil. Already reporting problems with internet connectivity are Sierra Bullones, Pilar and San Isidro police stations. But Barot said, Governor Edgar Chatto has committed the help of Bohol Info-Communications Technology Unit based at the Capitol to work out the details of assuring province-wide connectivity through wireless network coverage.