The Philippine National Police (PNP) in Negros Oriental is now in the process of selecting key personnel to be trained specifically for anti-illegal drugs operations.
PNP provincial director Sr. Supt. Edwin Portento disclosed Wednesday afternoon in an interview that based on the new guidance from the Chief PNP, Director Gen. Ronaldo dela Rosa, there shall be strict selective process for police personnel who shall be involved in Oplan TokHang this time around.
Back then, any police officer on duty could be deployed to undertake Oplan TokHang activities, specifically knocking on the doors of suspected drug users and pushers, for them to surrender voluntarily to the police.
This time, the “TokHangers” shall be properly screened and will undergo training on how to carry out their mission of visiting pre-identified and validated drug personalities, Portento explained.
The Chief PNP has strongly emphasized this time that prior to house visitation, an identified personality must be properly validated first, Sr. Supt. Portento said.
In the past, Sr. Supt. Portento admitted that if the police had even little information about a suspected drug personality, they are already allowed to go and knock on their doors.
The emphasis now is on the quality of operations (TokHang) and not more on quantity, Portento stressed.
The PNP is targeting to have at least two police personnel per police station to be assigned as “TokHangers”, he said.
In fact, they already had an initial seminar this past Tuesday and an additional training has been set, he added.
The provincial police director also clarified that the “TokHangers” will also be doing other police functions such as administrative, investigation, desk officer and street patrols, among others.
Meanwhile, Sr. Supt. Portento further clarified that the PNP and the PDEA are working hand in hand in the anti-narcotics operations here, despite the lack of personnel of the PDEA.
The police are required to coordinate with the PDEA, who is mandated by law to be the lead agency in the anti-drugs drive, prior to a police operation.
Sometimes, both agencies are represented while other times, it is just the PNP but with prior notification with the PDEA, according to Portento. (Judy Flores Partlow/PNA)
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});