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Davao Region top cop opens poll monitoring center

By Rhoda Grace Saron

May 6, 2019, 8:15 pm

DAVAO CITY -- The chief of the Police Regional Office-11 (PRO-11) opened its Regional Election Monitoring Center (REMAC) for media viewing Monday to show the police's preparations for the May 13 elections.

Brig. Gen. Marcelo Morales, PRO-11 chief, said the REMAC -- located inside the Tactical Operation Center of the PRO-11 headquarters here -- was already tried during the recent Palarong Pambansa 2019.

“It has operated last February but there was no official inauguration and blessing so this system is upgradable. Whatever software can be installed here like in the future the facial recognition and plate number recognition,” Morales said.

“We are using the concept of the technology of geographical information system (GIS) wherein if there is an incident that will happen can be plotted on the map and in real time will get the information that is actually happening on the ground,” he added.

He said REMAC is operational 24/7 so “we have a set of Information and Technology (IT) personnel they will be shifting for 12 hours”.

“And if there is a particular place that we want to see, it can be seen immediately on the screen. The deployment of PNP and even the recent incidents on specific cases like robbery, homicide, physical injuries, so it can be seen here,” he added.

Morales said the monitoring center is vital for the May 13 elections as it serves as "a repository of information. From the information, we can create a good picture of the situation on the ground and we can make an accurate and better decision making."

“Even after the election, it can still be used. Through this, we have monitored that the number of armed movements is declining so we plot it on the map and as we have noticed they are moving away from the city towards to the countryside boundaries of Region 11,” the PRO-11 director added.

Morales said the PRO-11 is first in the country to obtain the smart policing using digital technology.

“All regional police offices are required to set up REMAC but this kind of set up we are the first one to apply this kind of technology -- the GIS information system,” he said. (PNA)

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