24-hour center to receive complaints against police

**Dieseler** · December 15th, 2002 04:01 AM

Mods, can you put this the 'top' ng forum? So that everyone can see.. TY!

The action center's hotlines are 890-2535, 899-2088 and 890-2143.

24-hour center to receive complaints against police
Posted: 1:39 AM (Manila Time) | Dec. 15, 2002
By Leila Salaverria
Inquirer News Service

NATIONAL Police Commission officials are hoping that the 24-hour action center they will soon launch will help clean up police ranks.

Napolcom Commissioner Linda Hornilla on Saturday said the action center would have its dry run Monday and it would be formally launched sometime soon.

Speaking in the radio show of Napolcom chair and Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina, Hornilla said the action center would welcome complaints against police officers.

Complainants could visit the action center, which would hold office at the Napolcom building on Sen. Gil Puyat corner Makati avenues, any time they want or they could call the center's hotlines.

"If a complainant does not want to reveal his identity and only just called us through the telephone, we would still listen to his complaint and then we would verify it," she said. "We could also use the information to check out abusive activities of police officers."

Hornilla added that if a policeman is found guilty of what he has been accused of, he will be punished accordingly.

She also said all kinds of complaints involving police officers -- be it mulcting, indiscriminate firing of firearms and abuse of authority -- may be brought to the action center.

The forthcoming New Year celebrations could be a good testing ground for the action center, Hornilla added.

The Napolcom commissioner said there have been reports that police officers fire their guns in the air to celebrate the New Year.

This is a grave offense and those who commit it should be sanctioned, she said.

She urged residents to phone the Napolcom when they learn that a lawman has fired his gun indiscriminately.

The action center's hotlines are 890-2535, 899-2088 and 890-2143.