MANILA, Philippines – A total of 730 police officers nationwide are facing summary dismissal from the service for various violations, the Philippine National Police (PNP) chief said Tuesday.

PNP Director General Raul Bacalzo vowed to immediately resolve all cases involving erring police officers.

Bacalzo, however, said the public should not judge all police officers haphazardly, particularly the 135,000 others in the service.

He issued the call in the wake of criminal cases that surfaced in recent weeks involving police officers.

Interior Secretary Jessie Robredo, meanwhile, said erring police officers should be immediately terminated from the service.

He said the cases against police officers in the past few months have been alarming but statistics show that the number of cases decreased in 2010 compared to previous years.

Most of the cases filed against police officers include grave misconduct, rape, illegal discharge of firearms, and abuse of authority.

Since Robredo assumed office, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) identified hardline cases – illegal drugs, rape, illegal discharge of firearms, abuse of power, homicide -  which automatically result in the police officer placed in preventive suspension until the case is resolved.

Robredo now aims for a zero backlog, wherein cases that have remained unresolved for more than 5 years are now being reviewed.

The DILG also hired additional legal officers to look into the cases.

Robredo also aims assess the police recruitment process and the culture.

Cause for concern

The PNP, meanwhile, said in a press statement Tuesday that it is deeply concerned on the number of criminal incidents involving police officers.

“The PNP does not and will not tolerate such serious infractions of discipline,” the statement said. “The PNP will utilize all its resources to stop this phenomenon.”

It added that several actions were taken to address the issues on erring cops.

These include:

-  Filing of criminal and administrative charges against erring police officers, who should be committed city and municipal jails and treated as ordinary law violators;

- Faster resolution of administrative cases to remove undesirables from the police organization;

- Revision of PNP policy on command responsibility to remind police leaders of their indispensable participation in the system of discipline.

-Improvement of recruitment procedures that should be based purely on qualification standards;

-Training to improve camraderie, teamwork, and discipline, and investigative skills;

- Enhanced training by working closely with the Philippine Public Safety College to improve standards;

-  Review of PNP reward and punishment system to strengthen discipline;

- Study of cases involving rogue cops through profiling, behavioral studies, personnel management, and doctrines development to formulate long-term solutions. – Report from Gretchen Malalad, ABS-CBN News