CAGAYAN de Oro City Police (Cocpo) City Director Col. Dexter Paje said Wednesday, Nov. 5, that lack of police visibility at night and insufficient CCTV cameras are hindering the timely identification of suspects in recent killings here.
Paje made the remarks during a courtesy visit to the 21st City Council session after City Councilor Roger Abaday directly questioned him about the delayed identification of suspects in homicide cases.
“So far ang nakita nako nga problema is unang una police visibility natin particularly night time,” Paje said.
The City Director added that, based on his personal assessment, most of the suspects are not residents of Cagayan de Oro.
Despite the challenges with police visibility, Paje said the department is strategizing police deployments and checkpoints based on its crime clock and crime mapping data.
Paje stressed that another factor causing delays in identifying suspects is the lack of CCTV cameras across the city.
“Yong CCTVs natin kulang,” Paje said, though he confirmed that the department’s investigators are well-trained.
Councilor Abaday supported Paje’s statement, agreeing that there is a need to install more CCTVs in Cagayan de Oro.
Paje cited a shooting incident in Patag last month, noting that investigators were able to identify Persons of Interest (POIs) in that case specifically because of the CCTVs installed in the area.
Paje also confirmed that authorities are set to subpoena the POI in the killing of former National Irrigation Administration-10 legal officer Nyruh Kyle Antatico, who was shot dead on Oct. 10.
