Law Summary
Rationale for Implementation
- Discovery of deliberate crime under-reporting and point shaving in 2013 crime data validation.
- Complaints faced cumbersome multiple interviews before recording.
- Variation in recording procedures across police stations created inconsistent crime data.
- Necessity to adopt a uniform, efficient, and accurate crime recording system.
- Standardized system to accurately depict the crime situation and improve police service.
Purpose
- To establish a uniform procedure for recording crime incidents electronically across all police stations nationwide.
Definition of Key Terms
- "Crimes": Acts violating the Revised Penal Code or Special Laws.
- "Crime Incident Recording System (CIRS)": An electronic database facilitating fast, reliable crime data documentation and transmission.
- "Crime Registrar": PNP personnel, preferably non-uniformed, responsible for recording and submitting crime stats.
- Other terms defined include Desk Officer, Duty Investigator, Incident Record Form (IRF), Investigator-on-Case, Police Blotter, Quality Service Lane (QSL), and Under-Reporting of Crimes.
Policies and Principles Guiding CIRS Implementation
- Courteous and respectful treatment of complainants at the Quality Service Lane.
- Mandatory inclusion of all reported crime data into CIRS, restricting discretion of officers.
- Desk Officer determines incident nature; Duty Investigator classifies crime type.
- Police stations with investigative mandates must have CIRS-installed computers.
- Permanent assignment of a qualified Crime Registrar at all police stations and investigative units.
- Mandatory use of IRF to capture complainant’s information and facilitate encoding and uploading.
- Commitment required from all levels of command for uniform system adoption.
Execution and Procedure for Recording Crime Incidents
- All reports must be recorded by Desk Officer and Duty Investigator with Crime Registrar’s assistance.
- Crime volume includes all reports from the public, barangays, and law enforcement agencies.
- Stepwise procedure for recording:
- Reception and initial blotter entry by Desk Officer including referral to Investigator.
- Data entry into CIRS by Crime Registrar under Duty Investigator supervision.
- Joint review of entered data by complainant and Duty Investigator.
- Upload of final data into CIRS and printing of three IRF copies, signed by complainant and investigator.
- Distribution of IRF copies: complainant (receipt), Investigator (case folder), Desk Officer (for blotter transcription).
- Blotter entry must reference the IRF number and initial entry.
- Daily accounting of incidents by Desk Officer.
- Continuous updates of case progress recorded in CIRS by Investigator-on-Case.
- Non-crime data also maintained in CIRS for reference and to allow future updates if reclassified.
- Procedures accommodate offline data entry with subsequent uploading when internet is available.
Responsibilities of PNP Units and Personnel
- DIDM: Overall implementation, evaluation, training, and crime assessment.
- Comptrollership: Financial support and related tasks.
- Police Community Relations: Policy dissemination and stakeholder cooperation.
- ICT Management: Technical support, system development, and enhancements.
- National Operating Support Units: IRF submission to concerned stations and case monitoring.
- Regional Directors: Ensure equipment availability, data accuracy, crime trend analysis, and coordination with other agencies.
- Provincial/District/City Directors: Supervision of compliance, data maintenance, and analysis.
- Chiefs of Police and Station Commanders: Oversee uploading and reporting, correct errors.
- Investigation Chiefs: Ensure data accuracy and collect multi-agency information.
- Duty Investigators: Conduct interviews, supervise encoding, ensure blotter recording.
- Investigators-on-Case: Monitor case progress, update CIRS.
- Crime Registrars: Encode data, print IRFs, maintain confidentiality, update data, certify reports.
Administrative Sanctions for Non-Compliance
- Key Responsible Officers face administrative relief and Pre-Charge Investigation for failure to report, encode, or update crimes.
- Regional/District/Provincial Chiefs and NOSU officers face similar sanctions for failure to submit IRFs or monitor cases.
- Command responsibility sanctions extend to Directors of CPOs, PPOs, NCRPO, PROs, and NOSUs for supervisory lapses.
Effectivity
- The memorandum circular takes effect 15 days after filing at the UP Law Center, pursuant to pertinent provisions of the Revised Administrative Code.