Are you willing to be assigned anywhere in the Philippines?

That question has been asked to most of the Police applicant during the final interview. I remember the time during my application when I was asked about this question and I answered “YES” with all my will.

Maybe you would say that I’m hypocrite if I don’t want to be assigned in my hometown but just for the sake of me being hired as a Police officer, it would be better to answer them YES.

Here in the Philippines, the ratio for the police to community is 1:500. So, 1 police officer should be watching over 500 citizens. Meaning, the country is lacking police officers in most towns and cities. That is the current situation of policing here in our country. So, if you assigned to a different place not from your hometown, you would watch over 500 people that are stranger to you. With that, I don’t think you can be able to watch over all of them because you are not familiar who this people are. Compared to the situation where you are assigned to your hometown, the advantage of being familiar to the place and also familiar to the people around you makes you a better police officer. With my current status right now in the police service, I am being assigned far from my hometown. I don’t know the people and I am not familiar with the place. I listed myself for the downloading list because I am now qualified to be downloaded to my hometown. But the fact that the election period is coming, there’s a big possibility that I will be assigned to a different place where the election is very critical. I hope soon that system will be changed and policing in the Philippines will be based on localization.