TACLOBAN CITY – The Police Regional Office (PRO-8) has distributed 150 push-to-talk over cellular (PoC) radios to all police stations across Eastern Visayas to strengthen field communication and improve operational coordination.
PBGen Jay Cumigad, PRO-8 regional director, led the turnover ceremony of the new communication equipment aimed at enhancing the relay of critical information among police units in the region.
“This will really help. The lack of communication equipment is one of the barriers to the timely response of our policemen. This is going to be a continuing procurement based on the needs—until such time that all patrollers are fully equipped with radios,” he said during the event held on Wednesday, July 2.
This is the second batch of PoC radios distributed by the regional police this year. In April, the same number of units was issued to police stations to support personnel manning checkpoints and chokepoints during the election period.
“Communication equipment is a very effective tool to help the patrollers who are deployed on the ground,” Cumigad added.
The latest recipients of the communication equipment include Leyte Police Provincial Office, Samar Police Provincial Office, Northern Samar Police Provincial Office, Eastern Samar Police Provincial Office, Biliran Police Provincial Office, Southern Leyte Police Provincial Office, Ormoc City Police Office and Tacloban City Police Office.
Aside from the radios, PRO-8 also turned over 30 body-worn camera batteries to serve as backup power sources for units using body cameras during operations.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
