THE police officers assigned to secure the detention cell of Liloan Police Station in northern Cebu will face an investigation following the discovery of several banned items in a dawn raid over the weekend.
Operatives from the Provincial Intelligence Unit of the Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) found the prohibited items—19 cell phones, 11 phone keypads, eight smartphones, cell phone charger, two reams of cigarette, tattooing tools, P2,600 in cash, two packets believed to contain shabu and drug paraphernalia—inside detention cell on Saturday, March, 2021.
Intelligence officers conducted a surprise search in all police stations under the CPPO to check if the field units’ detention cells were clean.
The Liloan Police Station, of all 44 town and component city police stations under the CPPO, yielded the most number of prohibited items during the dawn search.
CPPO Director Alladin Collado has ordered his the investigation branch chief to conduct an inquiry and find out why the police officers tasked to guard the detention cell failed to intercept the banned items.
A jailer’s responsibility, he said, is to thoroughly check the items brought by relatives of the persons deprived of liberty (PDL).
Collado said he will not tolerate his personnel’s inattentiveness to their duties.
The police official admitted that all detention cells in Cebu Province are packed because the PDL are not turned over to the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) in Cebu City right away because a commitment order must be issued first by a court.
Collado said he will rotate the assignments of jail officers to prevent them from cozying up with PDL. (AYB / KAL)