IN THE financial capital, police visibility means more than just cops pounding the beat.
The quest to bringing the community closer the police has prompted the Makati Police Station to launch its own website, www.makatipnp.com.
"This is for the young, for the old, for everyone. This is for the people to know what the police [force] is all about, who their police are and what we are doing," Supt. Gilbert Cruz, Makati police chief, told the Inquirer.
The website, whose design resembles that of government institutions and private firms, would provide an Internet user a view of the station?s organization, operations and accomplishments.
The site is almost complete, said Cruz, but the public may already use its central feature, "Email Mo Kay Hepe," to send complaints to the police chief.
"They could email me their complaints and I will reply to them directly. And it would also serve as our directory because the website could tell them the nearest precinct where they could lodge their complaints," said Cruz.
Makati PNP (Philippine National Police) Online will give its users a direct link to the station's crime prevention program, including its ongoing anti-drug campaign, deployment in communities and the business hub, bus-to-bus checks, and intelligence gathering.
"I will have the precinct [commanders] post their accomplishments on the website so the public may view them," said the police chief, whose idea it was to take the station online.
The site will also give viewers windows to the station's administration, its officials and personnel, training programs and logistics.
Users may also get a brief background of the city from the site and will find links to other government sites, including that of the PNP, the Makati city government, and the defense and justice departments.
Cruz, a gadgets enthusiast, recently launched "Police I-Chat," a project that uses computer software to enable the police chief to send text messages for free to mobile phones of his precinct commanders and section chiefs via a personal computer.
