BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
There are no mercenary killers in Bacolod and scenarios like that happen only in movies, P/Col. Manuel Placido, Bacolod City Police Office director, said amid speculations that the spate of shooting incidents in the city could have been perpetrated by mercenary killers or vigilante groups.
Placido said the minds of Bacolodnons should not be conditioned that mercenary killers are on the loose in the city.
He said the killings were either due to personal grudges or illegal drugs, adding that Bacolod remains one of the most peaceful and livable cities.
BCPO records show that there were eight shooting incidents in Bacolod in the first two months of 2021.
But Placido said the police are not remiss in their jobs and are trying their best to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
People should understand that it is not just crime that the police are working on and crimes in Bacolod have reduced significantly, he said.
Placido admitted, however, that there should be a change in the strategy of police deployment to deter crimes.
UNCOOPERATIVE
The main challenge that the Bacolod police is facing is the lack of cooperation from a victim’s family, Placido said, adding that they have suspects in most of the shooting incidents, but could not file charges because of this.
Although the families of the victims do not cooperate, the Bacolod police continues its investigation to identity the perpetrators.
NO RESHUFFLING
Placido said there will be no reshuffling of police station commanders for now as they lack personnel to man the precincts. He said station commanders should have the rank of police majors but most of them are only lieutenants.*
