04 Nov PRO-NorthMin Implements Project Double Barrel Alpha
The police will be shifting their strategy in its campaign against illegal drugs, Police Regional Office (PRO)-Northern Mindanao spokesperson Police Superintendent Surki Sereñas said, adding that the new program is devised to reduce the number of deaths and prioritize the arrest of “high-value” targets.
The Philippine National Police launched its new program tagged as “Project Double Barrel Alpha,” to change the strategy on executing operations concerning the war against illegal drugs.
Sereñas stated, “Project Double Barrel Alpha will place a stronger focus on arresting prominent personalities in the government, military, police and business industry involved in the illegal drug trade.”
The police now have the list of individuals who were involved in the illegal drug trade as based on the report provided by the surrenderees of the previous program dubbed as “Project Double Barrel,” Sereñas said.
Due to the abrupt number of killings prompt by police operations during the Project Double Barrel, the police were criticized and condemned by various third party organizations even the project was considered successful.
The American Government, the European Union, and the United Nations, among others, have frequently criticized the increasing number of deaths in the government’s campaign against illegal drugs.
Sereñas stated, “So far, we only saw effects to the drug-user population. But, upon this third party assessment, Project Double Barrel did not achieve a good reputation because of the number of people killed in its operations and also all the other killings that were linked to it. Also, while we saw that the public understood the results, it did not really have a large impact on them.”
The Project Double Barrel Alpha will prioritize on promoting drug problem intervention programs, Sereñas added.
About 300,000 estimated drug individuals nationwide are now targetted with the new approach implemented by the police.
Sereñas said, “Another important component infused in the ‘Project Double Barrel Alpha’ will be on the way police operates. The new strategy will see police working with community leaders to clear neighborhoods of drugs and partnering with other sectors of society to facilitate intervention such as community-based rehabilitation programs.”
The Project Double Barrel in northern Mindanao had resulted to 8,000 “surrenders,” 800 arrests, 34 killed and three wounded during police operations, one personnel killed during police operations and 27 million worth of illegal drugs confiscated, according to the report from PRO-Northern Mindanao.
News Source: Sun.Star
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