BSI, DPS partner in new neighborhood policing, cleanup

The Department of Public Safety continues to make headway in its efforts to partner up with the private sector and other agencies to sweep crime off the streets of western Garapan.

On Saturday, a joint DPS-Best Sunshine International, Ltd. weeklong cleanup of all abandoned and empty lots in western Garapan began. The common long-term direction is to put forward a larger neighborhood policing and collaborative crime-solving initiative.

“Weeks after Typhoon Soudelor, police have been swamped with recovery activities. However, one of the core commitments of the [Department of Public Safety], as with any police department, is a community-oriented policing program, and in western Garapan, one of the highlights and services where we really shine and excel in is the bike patrol program,” said officer Jason Tarkong, the department’s supervisor for the Sex Offender Registry.

“With Best Sunshine’s help and after meetings with the DPS Commissioner [James Deleon Guerrero] and Commonwealth Bureau of Investigations, we all joined forces to enhance the safety of the community and tourists and also to bring things back into order. That involves a lot of cleaning up. So we’re here as volunteers, together with our families, to not only make this a safer environment, but also to make it more pleasing to look at. It is a privilege to sweat and sacrifice our free time to come here and do some good,” Tarkong added.

This is also about continually adapting innovative means to meet the challenges of a changing landscape, while maintaining services to the community, said Tarkong, adding that DPS will continue to develop stronger private sector linkages.

Initiated jointly with Best Sunshine, 30 police officers took a break from their routine work last Saturday to help clean up roads and empty lots along western Garapan leading up to Hotel Street. Along with BSI volunteers and employees, DPS officers cut down tall grass, trees, and shrubs. They raked and removed debris and even power-washed streets.

“We are delighted to be part of this bigger conversation, as we believe public and private sector commitment is necessary to able to support the goal of a safer community,” said BSI chief services officer Tao Xing. “Through partnership and collaboration among the private and public sector, we can fuel the development of innovative ideas to strengthen the goal of a safer and cleaner community for all.”

Abandoned and empty lots eventually become hot spots for criminal activity and other crimes against the community. These unkempt and neglected areas also encourage more littering and deterioration of maintenance.

The revitalization of western Garapan to sweep crime off the streets and effectuate a weeklong physical cleanup is a joint project of Best Sunshine and DPS, initiated by Best Sunshine International CSO Tao Xing with the company CSR director Rita Chong, and by DPS chief Deleon Guerrero and Commander Jeff Olopai of the Bureau of Investigations. (PR)