THE National Police Commission (Napolcom) has authorized the PNP to recruit 16,149 more police personnel next year in line with the reorganization of the police force and to fill up vacancies caused by attrition.
Lawyer Rogelio Carusao, Napolcom vice chairman and executive officer, said the recruitment of the new patrolmen and patrolwomen was approved by the commission en banc through a resolution dated August 25.
Carusao said 10,000 of the policemen will be recruited for the “regular recruitment quota” of the PNP, while the remaining 6,149 is for its “attrition recruitment quota.”
He said 8,425 of the 10,000 regular quota policemen will be distributed to mobile forces of the National Capital Region Police Office and other regional offices of the PNP throughout the country. The balance will be assigned to National Support Units (NSUs) and other offices of the PNP, including the Special Action Force, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Anti-Kidnapping Group.
Carusao said the 6,149 attrition quota policemen will be distributed to the regional police offices, NSUs and other PNP offices.
The PNP manpower is currently at 209,000 but many police stations, mostly in far-flung areas, are thinly manned.