The Police Regional Office in Western Visayas (PRO-6) distributed P21 million worth of information and communications technology (ICT) equipment and a patrol vehicle to police units across the region, including Negros Occidental and Bacolod City, during a turnover ceremony on Monday, June 9, at the regional headquarters in Iloilo City.

The turnover, led by PRO-6 Deputy Regional Director for Operations Colonel Roland Bulalacao, included 23 desktop computers each for the Aklan, Antique and Capiz Provincial Police Offices (PPOs), and Bacolod City Police Office.

The Iloilo and Negros Occidental PPOs received 55 units each, while the Iloilo City Police Office got 15 units.

The regional headquarters received one desktop and all units, including the headquarters, received one tablet each.

A new patrol vehicle was also assigned to the Leganes Municipal Police Station under the Iloilo PPO.

“They are intended for operations section, intelligence and PCR [police community relations],” PRO-6 spokesperson Lt. Colonel Arnel Solis said in an interview.

“It forms part of our technology-oriented policing because we need computers and tablets intended for our commanders for easy monitoring of data and other reports submitted by the lower units,” he added.

PRO-6 director Brigadier General Jack Wanky, in his message read by Bulalacao, said they are thankful to the national headquarters for the logistics which could fuel better performance.

“Personnel carrier and ICT equipment have a corresponding useful life span. But if they are properly taken care of, they could be useful beyond their limits. We must remember that it is not most often that we get a share from the national allocation of these resources. So, whatever we receive must be valued and used to support that attainment of our goal of better service,” he said. (PNA)