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The Philippine National Police (PNP) needs 60,000 new police recruits to keep up with the growing population of the country, according to Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas.

Speaking with reporters, Roxas said he discussed the need to hasten the hiring of more policemen during a command conference with senior PNP officials last Monday.

He said the country’s primary law enforcement agency should infuse new blood into the 148,000-strong organization to meet the ideal policeman-to-population ratio of 1:500 and beef up its patrol units.

“With the PNP’s net hiring of 3,000 policemen every year, it may take 20 years before we fill up the gap. That’s why we’re looking for ways to accelerate (the recruitment),” Roxas said.

“We cannot hire 60,000 policemen in a year, but certainly it should be more than 3,000 policemen a year,” he added.

“We cannot do that overnight. Maybe we can just start a program and attain what we want in one or two years.”

He said lawmakers and other government agencies involved in policy-making must also come up with a budget responsive to the financial requirements of the PNP.

Entry level police personnel, with a rank of Police Officer 1, receive a basic monthly salary of P14,834 on top of other allowances and noncash benefits.

Roxas underscored the importance of having more PNP personnel to maximize police visibility in the communities and curb petty crimes.

“As you know, the duties of policemen do not end at sunset,” the interior secretary stressed. Policemen attend to their duties in three shifts.

During their meeting, police officials also relayed to him the PNP’s shortage of communications equipment and police vehicles.

At present, he said the police need at least 70,000 radio devices.

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Source: Marlon Ramos, Philippine Daily Inquirer. (24 October 2012)

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