Sulu cops get new community policing ideas from US trip

Nine Filipino policemen from Sulu province returned home from a recent visit to the United States, armed with ideas on “community policing." The visit to the US last Feb. 21 to March 6 focused on “community policing" involving active partnership between police and residents and civic organizations. “We have been applying the concept of community policing in the Philippines for a long time now. But compared to the police in the US, we in Mindanao have less in terms of facilities and modern technology," Sulu deputy provincial director Amil Banaan said in an article on the US Embassy website. Banaan and eight other officers observed the community policing system in Virginia and New York during their visit. Other members of the group observed that each police team in the US community they visited has a vehicle available for their use, and US patrol cars are provided laptop computers so that police officers could send or receive data even while on the road. But the group noted an Internet connection as in the US would be particularly useful in Sulu, where the province’s residents and police units are spread out in several islands. “With e-mail, it would be a lot easier for us to coordinate with other units in the island. We could even hold meetings through e-mails," said Pakhar Mawan, chief of the Provincial Investigation and Detection Management Section. Mawan and Banaan were the senior members of the group who visited the US under the Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). The program seeks to build mutual understanding between the US and other nations through professional visits to the US for current and emerging foreign leaders. Each year over 4,500 IVLP participants from all over the world are selected by US embassies to travel to the US to meet and confer with their professional counterparts. Other members of Banaan and Mawan’s group were: Ednahar Hambali, chief of administration, Indanan Police Station; Russell Elenzano, chief of the Pata Police Station; Francisco Panisan, chief of the Patikul Police Station; Kris Conrad Gutierrez, chief of the Panglima Estino Police Station; Aida Banaan, assistant investigator of the Jolo Police Station; Ferusa Asiri, women and children desk officer of the Indanan Police Station; and Norhara Haiber, personnel officer of provincial police radio/communication logistics. —LBG, GMANews.TV