PNP finalizes suggestions for psychiatric exam of police force

The Philippine National Police is finalizing its recommendations in the conduct of Psychiatric-Psychological Exam (PPE) to all PNP personnel, amid cases of grave misconduct of some police officers.

In a news brief sent to the media last Friday, the PNP cited a recent police abuse -- the case of a police sergeant who went on a shooting rampage inside the Manila Police District (MPD)  headquarters -- in pushing for a periodic psychiatric exam among the ranks.

PNP Chief Police General Guillermo Eleazar was quoted as saying that the Health Service recommendations will be included in coming up with guidelines that would be observed in the regular assessment of emotional and mental health state of cops. 

“This recent incident at MPD, along with the previous ones, highlights the need for us to closely look into the overall state of our men. Hindi nagtatapos sa kung paano nila ginagawa ang kanilang trabaho, kasama dito ang pagtingin sa kanilang physical, emotional at lalo na ang kanilang mental state,” Eleazar said.

Earlier, he said that he was considering a conduct of PPE at least every three years as part of the effort to further improve the general welfare of PNP personnel, especially those involved in ground operations.

Late Friday night, Police Executive Master Sergeant Reynante Dipasupil was engaged in a shooting rampage inside the MPD Headquarters, which resulted in the death of a police sergeant and wounding of another.

Based on initial information, Dipasupil went to the MPD headquarters and started indiscriminately firing his weapon past 11 P.M.  He shot Police Staff Sergeant Reynaldo Cordova, fired at the different offices including the office of MPD Director Police BGen Leo Francisco, which prompted elements of the MPD Special Weapons and Tactics team to try to neutralize him, the news brief said.

Eleazar had assured the public that the MPD is already conducting a thorough investigation into incident.

“The investigation I ordered on the unfortunate incident goes beyond the shooting as this includes other aspects such as possible mental health issues of all our personnel,” he pointed out. —LBG, GMA News