TACLOBAN CITY — The community must play a more active role in preventing crime as police and other government agencies face growing demands for security, particularly in schools, National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) Eastern Visayas Regional Director Atty. Risty Sibay said.
Sibay made the call during a Crime Prevention Week press conference, emphasizing that maintaining peace and order cannot be left solely to law enforcement agencies.
He said the Community and Service-Oriented Policing (CSOP) system provides a framework for government agencies, police and communities to work together in identifying security concerns and developing solutions.
“Let us not just call on a particular agency, like NAPOLCOM, on what we can do but also on what you can do,” Sibay said during the media conference Thursday,August 27.
“I believe that when we are united, we can do more,” he added.
Sibay identified three key areas that need to be strengthened to make crime prevention more effective: community participation, inter-agency collaboration, and a preventive and problem-oriented approach.
He said residents should be encouraged to actively participate in maintaining peace and order by helping identify problems in their communities and proposing solutions.
Government agencies, meanwhile, should coordinate their programs and ensure that their crime prevention initiatives are aligned with national crime prevention plans, he said.
Sibay stressed that people must remain at the center of community policing, with government institutions providing accountable and transparent services while recognizing that maintaining peace and order is a shared responsibility.
“The brightest ideas are not just from government agencies but from the people itself,” he said.
The NAPOLCOM official also pointed to limited police resources as another reason for stronger community participation. He said Eastern Visayas has roughly 11,000 police personnel, with more than 4,000 assigned to schools.
The deployment highlights the continuing security demands faced by the police, particularly in protecting students and school communities.
The need for closer cooperation gained greater urgency following the June 22 shooting at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, which left three students dead and 20 others injured.
Since the incident, police authorities have strengthened coordination with schools, local government units and other stakeholders, including increased police visibility, security monitoring, threat assessment and emergency response preparations.
Sibay said, however, that police presence alone cannot guarantee the prevention of similar incidents.
“We encourage community support, participation so we can arrive at a concrete plan to address problems so that incidents in San Jose National High School will never happen,” he said.
He said community-oriented policing should go beyond responding to crimes after they occur. Instead, communities and government agencies should work together to identify potential risks, address underlying problems and prevent incidents before they happen.
Sibay said a united effort among police, schools, parents, local governments, national government agencies and communities is essential to creating safer communities and protecting children from crime and violence.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)
