QC’s narcs undergo neuro tests

MANILA, Philippines — Amid a slew of controversies hounding the administration’s war on drugs, the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) is conducting neuropsychiatric tests on all of its anti-narcotics operatives to weed out “unfit” personnel, an official said yesterday. 

More than 335 police officers assigned to various drug enforcement units of the QCPD will undergo a battery of tests – psychosocial profiling, temperamental surveys and exams to gauge his or her mental and emotional capacity – to determine if they are fit to serve in the campaign against illegal drugs. Operatives could face reassignment if they are deemed unfit.  

“This is to give the public the peace of mind that our personnel are fit for this job and are actually capable of serving the citizenry,” Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar, QCPD chief, told The STAR. 

Superintendent Cleto Manongas, the lone neuropsychiatrist of the PNP, helped craft the neuropsychiatric test package for the QCPD. 

The 35 members of the QCPD’s District Drug Enforcement Unit went through initial testing last Monday. The tests form the first step in the QCPD’s Oplan Think or Tokhang Isip N Kalusugan program, which was conceptualized over a month ago. 

The testing of more than 300 anti-illegal drug operatives is expected to be finished by the end of October, according to QCPD health service head Chief Inspector Josephine Nandu.

Following the tests, operatives would also undergo stress or anger management counseling, if needed. 

Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte, head of the Quezon City Anti-Drug Abuse Advisory Council, said they are in favor of this move following “the spate of drug-related killings that have been occurring of late, many of them involving innocent people.”