Col. Gilberto Tuzon, General Santos City police director (PNA-GenSan file photo)
GENERAL SANTOS CITY – The city police has tapped scooter motorcycle riders here as force multipliers in its enhanced anti-criminality campaign.
Col. Gilberto Tuzon, city police director, said Wednesday at least 78 scooter riders coming from various groups have signed up to assist them in helping curb various criminal activities, especially those involving motorcycle-riding suspects.
He said the move is in line with the ongoing full rollout of its newest program dubbed Project SMART, which stands for “Scooter Movement Against Riding-in-Tandem” criminals.
The police official said they initiated the program to provide a venue for ordinary citizens to help them in maintaining peace and order in the city.
Under the initiative, he said the volunteer scooter riders will serve as force multipliers to counter and prevent criminal activities in local communities.
“They can help us in our intelligence (operations) by serving as sources of information on the ground,” he told reporters.
Tuzon said they have created a dedicated online chat group to facilitate reporting and exchange of information on peace and order, security and other related concerns.
He said their units will consider and properly validate all relayed information, and initiate the appropriate actions.
These include shooting incidents, robbery and other crimes perpetrated by motorcycle riding-in-tandem suspects.
The volunteer scooter riders are members of enthusiast groups based in the city, among them the Food Panda Riders Club, Humble Riders Club, Mio Matic Philippines Elite Group-GenSan chapter, Team G1, Tropaps Riders Group Philippines, GenSan Honda Scooters Club and All Mio Club.
A project briefer said prospective volunteers of Project SMART should be members of scooter motorcycle riders' groups.
They should carry a valid driver’s license and their scooters must have standard accessories and registered with the Land Transportation Office.
Tuzon said they are continually accepting volunteers and urged those interested to coordinate with local police units and personnel for their screening. (PNA)
