By: Joe Sprite

Jagna has a new Chief of Police. Police Inspector Tarcisia T. Jimenez had just retired and she is succeeded by someone from Cagayan de Oro City. We hope that he will like it here. Although Jagna is a port town, the bad elements here are not so bad. There may be some petty thieves but there is nothing to steal. There are teeners who lose their cool after having a few drinks but they only hack each other, not anybody else.

The town has some thirty thousand citizens. The fifteen police personnel of the Jagna PNP are only half of the desired one police officer for every thousand inhabitants. The budget is not enough. The PNP is a national agency, this means that their budget comes from national coffers. However, since this town is slightly off the beaten path, it could be expected that we be at the bottom of the pole. Big town and cities will demand priorities in funding. The second-class municipalities get the next attention. Those who are at the bottom will have to wait for their turn. Well that is life perhaps the higher authorities reason that our wants are simple and our needs are few. But we have gone from a sleepy town in the boondocks to a bustling port town, which is Bohol 's southern gateway to northern Mindanao .

Police work is mainly prevention, detection and apprehension. To prevent a commission of felony, police visibility is one of the deterrents. However, our police will be spread thin if they are to show themselves all over the place. Regular patrolling may solve this. But this may prove expensive. It is only recently that the Jagna PNP Station has a police car. Previously the cops have to rely on the motorcycle, those who have one when summoned. They have to spend for their gasoline. This could be solve perhaps if each barangay chief tanod will be furnish a cellphone, Whenever police assistance is needed, this can be relayed over the mobile phone. Those along phone landlines may have their barangay halls installed with telephones. Knowledge of the presence of calling centers may be an equivalent of visibility. Any untoward activity may be reported and preempted.

Detection could be before or after the crime is committed. Any criminal aware of detection may think twice be doing something. Prior detection would involve surveillance. But this too is expensive. It would need personnel to perform surveillance and local police personnel are limited. A police officer may cultivate a number of reliable informers. This could serve as his eyes and ears in the community again cultivation and maintaining of informers is also expensive. To gain their trust, one has to spend. There are police personnel who buy information outright.

Detection after the commission needs knowledge of forensics very few of our police personnel are exposed to it we have yet to see one in a PNP Station who know how to lift a fingerprint. Or look for clues without destroying other clues in the surroundings. A major crime might happen in Jagna and if it does we have to wait for a SOCO or Scene of Crime Operative from somewhere else to gather vital clues before the rest of the evidence is disposed. With a patrol car and motorcycles, prompt apprehension will not be a problem. Unless the crime happens in the hinterlands, response can be immediate however this too is needs expense. Gas, oil and proper maintenance of vehicles are needed and these costs money.