QCPD reactivates stations’ anti-drug units

MANILA, Philippines - Anti-drug units of the Quezon City Police District’s stations will soon be reactivated to intensify the city police’s anti-narcotics drive, QCPD director Senior Superintendent Joel Pagdilao said yesterday.

The QCPD director recently met with Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte, chairman of the city’s Anti-Drug Abuse Advisory Council, to discuss details of the move. 

The plan – including the protocol and procedures during anti-drug operation – was also presented during a recent consultative assembly of the city’s Liga ng mga Barangay.

Pagdilao said the police stations’ anti-drug units were deactivated in the past due to corruption. What remained was the QCPD’s central anti-drug unit based in Camp Karingal. 

But Pagdilao said there was a need to reactivate the anti-drug unit at the station level to closely monitor communities for drug abuse and narcotics peddling. 

Pagdilao said that while the QCPD’s central anti-drug unit had been effective in the sense that its operations resulted in big narcotics hauls, there was also a need to address the street-level distribution of illegal drugs. 

The QCPD director noted the link between illegal drugs and the occurrence of crimes. 

Pagdilao assured Belmonte and barangay officials that the operations of the police stations’ anti-drug units would follow police protocol.

He also said the anti-drug operatives at the police stations would undergo training to ensure their competence and integrity in handling drug cases.