MPD eyes tan, weight loss for beat cops

MANILA, Philippines - Manila Police District officials are considering using weight loss and a change in skin tone as proof that police officers on foot patrol are doing their job.

“If you walk for several hours each day, you’d lose weight, right? And develop a tan? I could tap the health service for that but nothing’s final,” MPD director Senior Superintendent Rolando Nana told The STAR.

“But what if you walk the beat but eat a lot? Won’t you gain weight? We’ll see. Nothing’s final,” he added.

The MPD started reassigning its police officers back to the stations and precincts to provide better police visibility, as ordered by newly installed Philippine National Police chief Director General Ricardo Marquez.

Nana said about 65 percent of Manila’s 3,000 police officers have been assigned to patrol a beat.

One of the policemen Nana praised was homicide investigator Senior Police Officer 2 Jonathan Bautista, whom he saw manning traffic along T.M. Kalaw Avenue and later arresting a suspected snatcher.

To monitor the officers on patrol, Nana designated supervisors and required the police officers or their superiors to fill out weekly individual time logs detailing where they went and at what time.

“Even I have a time log,” Nana said.

Difficult measure

A PNP official who used to walk the beat told The STAR weight loss could be a good indicator of a police officer diligently walking the beat, but a difficult measure to use.

The source said “weight loss as an indicator is really a nice thought, but let’s not forget the diet.”

He said the low crime rate based on statistics and assigning supervisors are “not that effective” if these are the only means available to measure the effectiveness of foot patrols.

“If you reprimand a police officer for having a high crime rate because they honestly report the number of crime incidents in their area, chances are they will doctor the figures so they could please you,” the ex-patrolman explained.

He said relying on supervisors to check on the patrollers is “tricky” because supervisors themselves could use it to bully other police officers.

“Naughty” police officers could also take advantage of it by remaining in their supposed area or post and not walk around anymore, the source said.

“Based on my experience, when I would go on foot patrol and return to the office, I would be asked to explain why I was not at my post. If that is the case, I’d rather stay at my post than go on patrol,” the official said.

The former patrolman said the “problem” with “almost all” the police officials, especially those who graduated from police or military academies, was that they never experienced going on foot patrol themselves.