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Ilocos Norte needs more tourist cops

By Leilanie Adriano

September 5, 2022, 8:50 pm

<p><strong>HUMAN BARRICADE</strong>. Cops serve as human barricades during a crowd-drawing event at the Robinsons mall in Ilocos Norte in this undated photo. The Ilocos Norte Police Provincial Office needs additional policemen to ensure public safety. <em>(File photo by Leilanie Adriano)</em></p>

HUMAN BARRICADE. Cops serve as human barricades during a crowd-drawing event at the Robinsons mall in Ilocos Norte in this undated photo. The Ilocos Norte Police Provincial Office needs additional policemen to ensure public safety. (File photo by Leilanie Adriano)

LAOAG CITY – The Ilocos Norte Police Provincial Office (INPPO) needs additional policemen to be deployed in the province’s tourist destinations. 
 
Through a draft provincial resolution no. 2022-08-026 sponsored by provincial board member Gian Carlo Angelo Crisostomo on Monday, the province is requesting the director of the Police Regional Office to allocate 100 special quota composed of 20 female and 80 percent male in the recruitment process of qualified Ilocos Norte residents who will be deployed at the INPPO.
 
As the farthest province from the Police Regional Office 1 based in San Fernando City, La Union, and a favorite tourist destination in the country, Crisostomo said "there is a need for Ilocos Norte to beef up its security operations while ensuring the maintenance of peace and order and public safety."
 
Col. Julius Suriben said the new police recruits will be "a great boost for the effective and efficient operation of the INPPO, especially when there is a request for more cops to secure visitors and guests in the province."
 
He said the special quota of at least 20 new female cops can serve the women’s desk division of the Ilocos Norte police to process cases of violence against women and children, including children in conflict with the law.
 
In case the number of Ilocos Norte resident applicants may fall short of the requested special quota, non-residents may be accommodated provided they sign an undertaking to serve in the province for at least 10 years.
 
Previously, the Department of Tourism-Region 1, in partnership with the Philippine National Police (PNP) here, trained some 50 policemen who would act as tourist guides and would eventually be called Tourist-Oriented Police for Community Order and Protection (TOPCOP) in Laoag City to keep guests and tourists safe and make their stay in the country enjoyable.
 
The TOPCOP was piloted in Ilocos Norte to provide necessary assistance and reassure the security and safety of visitors, both local and foreign guests, coming to the province.
 
Among the components of the training include the review of police response procedures, tourist profiles, and overview on tourism and child protection laws which were discussed by officers who are experts in the field.
 
The DOT project is envisioned to create a favorable image of the country as a safe place and contribute to the country’s economic recovery into the new normal. (PNA)
 

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