PAGADIAN CITY – The Philippine National Police’s (PNPs) procurement of latest technology is a welcome move and a key in both preventing and solving crimes.
This was the reaction of Zamboanga del Sur PNP provincial director P/Sr. Supt. Jose Bayani L. Gucela on the statement of Director Arturo Cacdac Jr., chief of the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management during the weekly program “Talking Points” of PIA, PCOO and Radyo ng Bayan where he was the guest.
Cacdac said the PNP have the latest technology to aid them in their investigation of crime and forensics. The said technology includes DNA, Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) and Integrated Ballistic Identification System (IBIS).
Cacdac said they could easily find out the identity of a body through the DNA, identify a suspect’s identity through his fingerprint using the AFIS and identify the type of firearm used through the bullet using the IBIS.
With the latest technologies we have , Gucela said “it will enable our PNP to be competitive with other law enforcement agencies in Asia.”
Gucela said these technologies are very much needed by the law enforcement agencies in the investigation process especially on DNA testing, fingerprint and ballistic identifications. “This is timely for our institution to acquire these kind of technologies,” Gucela said.
Gucela said the AFIS can be big help in the investigation process in finding the culprits but it has to have a requirement like gathering a data for comparison and for the computer to compare the finger print data.
“Since this is more on forensic investigation, I hope that these technologies will not only be confined in the PNP headquarters but these will be distributed to the different crime laboratories in the provincial stations to ensure speedy investigation on crimes,” Gucela concluded.
In a related development , Cacdac said that new members of the police force are now trained on how to investigate and handle criminal cases by the members of the PNP Crime Laboratory.
Cacdac said the training includes medico-legal exam basic course and basic fire arms course. “74.7% of current investigators have no formal training in handling criminal cases however, all of them will have undergone formal training by the end of 2012,” Cacdac assured. (GC-PIA).