PNP seeks to expand cybercrime units nationwide

AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police has vowed to expand its cybercrime units nationwide.

Director General Alan Purisima, PNP chief, said at the 1st National Summit on Cybercrime in Camp Crame, that the PNP would start specializing on crimes committed online.

This, Purisima said, would begin by expanding PNP’s Anti-Cybercrime Group, which was established as an independent unit from Criminal Investigation and Detection Group on 2013.

“We will be having laboratories at the different parts of the country, training more personnel, specialized personnel,” he said.

In a previous interview, Senior Superintendent Gilbert Sosa, PNP ACG chief, said the police cybercrime unit was planning to establish cybercrime desks in all police stations.

Emphasizing the ACG as a “specialized police unit,” Purisima stressed that PNP personnel assigned with and underwent training at ACG would remain there until their retirement.

“Policemen who will train here cannot go out of ACG. Kung nag-umpisa ka na dito, dito ka na rin magre-retire (If your assignment starts at ACG, you will also retire at ACG),” he said.

If an anti-cybercrime policeman wishes to leave, Purisima said he would have to either file resignation or get dismissed from service.

“We will not allow those trained personnel to go out of their unit to perform other police duties,” he added.

He also cited the accomplishment of ACG under Senior Sosa, which has investigated 601 cybercrime cases since its activation in 2013.

Last January, the ACG chief said he considered cyberpornography as the number one crime in the Philippines. Other rampant Internet cases include ATM fraud, identity theft and human trafficking.

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