Davao City police needs cars, SWAT gears, radios

DAVAO CITY July 1 (PIA)- The Davao City Police chief has drawn up a wish list of police equipment for newly-sworn Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

These wish list include patrol vehicles, SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) gears and new communication radios for the city's police force.

DCPO chief Senior Superintendent Ronald Dela Rosa said that foremost among the needs are new patrol cars for the police stations. He said that the Tamaraw FX patrol cars being used by the City are already 10 years old and are fit for replacement.

He said it would be enough if the police stations would have one to three units of these patrol cars but ideally police stations should have about six patrol vehicles. DCPO has about 12 police stations.

According to its website, the DCPO has one mobile patrol group with about 20 vehicles and is tasked to conduct mobile police visibility and respond to police emergencies.

Dela Rosa prefers the simple AUVs (Asian Utility Vehicles) such as the Jitney Type Tamaraw FX since it could accommodate many passengers. Although he wishes the police could also receive Isuzu Crosswind or Toyota Innova patrol vehicles.

Aside from vehicles Dela Rosa also would need equipment for its 30-man SWAT team like M4 rifles, Kevlar vests, tear gas and stun grenades. He said the recent incident when a SWAT team stormed the hide-out of suspected drug-pushers; the SWAT team have used the last of their tear gas.

"If an incident like that would happen we no longer have any tear gas to use." Dela Rosa said.

The DCPO chief also said they would need new radios for their communication systems and is including it in his wishlist which he would give to City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

Dela Rosa did not give the budget for his wishlist but he said the 30 pieces of M4 rifles alone would cost around P20-million.

Although the City Mayor and Dela Rosa have not yet set their meeting, the City Mayor during his oath-taking speech yesterday (June 30) has re-emphasized his tough policy against criminality.

Dela Rosa also bared that DCPO personnel will also be receiving their brand-new Glock sidearms. Last year the Philippine National Police purchased 60,000 Glock 17 Gen4 9mm pistols for the country's policemen. (PIA/RG Alama)