Chapter I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Peace and order are essential to every community. Basically, these tasks
belong to function of law enforcers. The law enforcers initiate every possible
measure to assure that everyone is safe in whatever part of the day and night.

Approaches to promote public safety and crime prevention have emerged

over time and these are demonstrated in different solution, practices, programs
and policies enforced by the pillar of the criminal justice system such as the
police.

Police visibility or as authors say “police omnipresent” is the most

traditional but effective method applied in the crime prevention effort of the law
enforcement agency. Police visibility gives various effect and more importantly, it
makes would-be criminals cautious of doing criminal acts whenever policemen
are in the vicinity.

Furthermore, police visibility assures the public that at any moment,

police assistance is readily available whenever necessary.

Moreover, it should be noted that crime prevention is not the sole

responsibility of the police authorities, it is equally the concern of every citizen
as phrase read “Crime is everybody’s businesses”

“The decline in the total crime volume was attributed to the enhanced
police visibility, implementation of special laws, serving of warrant of arrest and
the filing of appreciate charges in court.” Espino said
 The researchers observed that some people in the community are not fully
aware on the crime prevention programs and strategies of our police agencies,
which eventually resulted to poor cooperation and coordination on their part.

With this, the researchers are motivated to undertake this study.

Determining therefore the perceived effect of police visibility in the different
establishment in the Municipality of San Pablo is of great help for enhancing
awareness to promote peace and order in the Municipality.
 RESEARCH PARADIGM

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

1. Establishments in 3. Identification of Determination of the
the San Pablo, establishments in the effect of police visibility
Isabela where the San Pablo Isabela as perceived by the
police personnel are where police constituents for
visible personnel are visible enhancing awareness
2. Profile visibility as 4. Profile of the police to promote peace and
strategy with visibility as strategy order in the San Pablo,
respect to: 5. Perceived effect of Isabela
a. Strategies used police visibility in the
in maintaining establishment in the
police visibility San Pablo, Isabela
b. Number of hours
spent in the area of
duties to maintain
police visibility
3. Perceived effect of
police visibility in
the establishments
in the San Pablo,
Isabela

FEEDBACK MECHANISM
Figure 1 Research Paradigm
 The input presents the establishment in the Municipality of San Pablo
where police personnel are visible, the profile of the police visibility as strategy
and the perceived effect of police visibility in the establishment in the
Municipality, which will be identified and analyzed as seen in process. The
expected output will be the determination of the perceived effect of police
visibility for enhancing peace and order in the Municipality of San Pablo.

Statement of the Problem

This study was undertaken to determine the perceived effect of police

visibility in the different establishments in the Municipality of San Pablo.
Specifically, it aimed to answer the following questions:

1.What establishment in the Municipality of San Pablo where police

personnel are visible?

2. What is the profile of the police visibility with respect to:

a. Strategies used in maintaining police visibility; and

b. Number of hours spend in the area of duties to maintain police

visibility?

3. What is the perceived effect of police visibility in the establishment in

the Municipality of Ilagan?

4. Is there a significant relationship between profile of the police visibility

and its perceived effect in the Municipality of San Pablo?

Hypothesis
Significance of the Study

The results of the study will be useful to the following:

Philippine National Police - The outcome of this study will serve as a basis
in finding ways to intensity their crime prevention programs through police
visibility.

Community – This study will be helpful to the community in strengthening

their relation to PNP and develop their sense of cooperation and support in
preventing crimes through police visibility.

Criminology Student – The finding of the study will help the students to be
aware in the police visibility and to give them an overview of their future
career as law enforcers.

The Researchers- This study will help to discover additional knowledge that
contributes to the development of Criminology profession.

Scope and Delimitation

This study was conducted in the establishments where police is visible in

Municipality of San Pablo, Isabela. The study deals with perception of the people
toward the effect of police visibility. This study does not cover the police
efficiency.

This research will focus on the investigation of establishment where police

personnel are visible.

Furthermore, the study also focuses on the profile of the police visibility as
strategy with respect to strategies used in maintaining police visibility and
number of hours spend in the concern areas.
 The following are defined conceptually, and according to how will be used
in the research work to help the readers and users understand and appreciate
the study better.

Beat Patrol - It is a unique and effective concept in the current security

scenario primarily for Resident Welfare Association, shops, banks, ATMs and
other small establishments.

Crime - An unlawful act punishable by the state or other authority. As used

in the research, crime is an illegal act for which a person can be punished by
law.

Crime Prevention- The attempt to reduce and deter crime and criminals. As
used in the study, crime and criminals. As used in the study, crime
prevention is an act to prevent and lessen crimes through police visibility.

Establishments - As used in the study, it is a landmark which may be

categorized as commercial center, institutions or a huge building where police
personnel is assigned to secure.

Implementation - Refers to the employment of plans, programs, and

strategies to maintain police visibility in the concern areas.

Police Officers- A constituted body of persons empowered by a state to

enforce law, to protect people and property, and to prevent crime and civil
disorder. As used in the study, it refers to the members of the Municipality
San Pablo Philippine National Police who are responsible for enforcing and
managing patrolling regulations and in controlling crime rate, maintain the
safety of the people in all places and prevent crimes in the Municipality of
San Pablo, Isabela.
Police Action - A localized police action undertaken against persons found
violating the peace and order.

Police Visibility- As used in the research, these are the law enforcement
officers assigned in particular establishment to prevent crime.
 Chapter II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter consists of related literature and studies which have direct
relations to present study.

Related Literature

Foreign

Weisburd, Groff, & Yang1 stated increasing police presence can occur in a number
of ways. One way mainstay of policing since 1930s has been random preventive
patrol by automobile. Random patrol generally involves officer randomly driving
around their beat in downtime between calls for service.

The idea is to create a sense of omnipresence and to maximize deterrence by

keeping offenders on their toes about when an officer will drive by next.
Additionally, crime is expected to be deterred at the time officers are driving
through (or sitting in) a particular area because crime is not randomly
distributed across beat, but is instead highly concentrated.

Kelling et.al2 said that random preventive patrol has generally not been thought
to be a very effective crime control tool. In the major study in these areas, the
Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experimented on the increasing or decreasing
levels of preventive patrol did not have a significant impact on the crime or
victimization.

_____________________________________________________________________________
1. Weisburd, Groff, & Yang
2. Kelling et.al
Local

Director General Nicanor A. Bartolome, Chief of the Philippine National Police

(PNP), ordered all policemen doing office work to go out and render at least four
hours of security patrols in their areas of jurisdiction. “They will now be
conducting patrol before they go to the office and before they go home,” said
Bartolome. The target time will be from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. in the morning
and from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the afternoon. According to Bartolome, the
PNP objective is to make use of that time on matters that need the police
concerns most, which is patrolling the streets”. It was implemented by Bartolome
in Metro Manila while he was director of the National Capital Region Police Office
(NCRPO).

After the assessment that it was effective, Bartolome said he wants to implement
it across the country because aside from policemen doing office work, he said
some policemen in other units will also be required to conduct beat patrol.

He, however, clarified that only those assigned in areas where the threat of big
rebel groups like communist and Moro rebels will be tapped for patrol. “Some of
those assigned in internal security operations will be used for visibility because
we all know that it is an essential component to prevent crime,” said Bartolome.

Moreover, Abat (2013) stated that in Davao City, the police station is increasing
police visibility in communities to reduce the numbers of crimes. Most of the
policemen are outside for advocacy programs and to maximize visibility. And also
don’t let the ride in a mobile since mostly they are on foot patrol to observe more
the community safety, this way they could easily establish connection with the
community against criminal acts. Policemen also go house-to-house in different
villages in subdivision within the area of their responsibilities to make sure that
they are safe by the police force.
______________________________________________________________________________

Rodny Baula
Hence, Rińen (2014), stated that Cebu City is further strengthening police
visibility in public areas where implemented by the police as part of their
strategy to lower street crimes in program dubbed Metro Cebu Comprehensive
Deployment System (MCCDS) which in this program they will maximize police
visibility out in the streets to prevent crimes from happening and witness more
augmentation of policemen out in the streets in beat, foot, and mobile in covert
operations. “The response to street crimes is always police presence”, apart from
increasing the number of policemen in foot and mobile patrols, other strategies
that will be employed the establishment of checkpoints, deployment of covert
personnel and with all these done in random manner.

Therefore, safety is a freedom from harm or danger and the state of being safe
which every person assures in the place they were living and for their daily lives.
People need to feel safe at all times under any circumstances. It does not matter
if you are at home, at work, at school, travelling at social event or in desperate
need of emergency assistance.

Related Studies

Foreign

Sindall and Sturgis3 uses administrative data linked to the British Crime Survey
in order to assess the relative importance of police numbers and [police visibility
in determining public confidence in the police. As expected, visibility has a
significant and positive effect on confidence. However, we also find a significant
positive effect of police numbers over and above the effect of visibility, Moreover,
because the to which people are visible in local areas is itself a function of the
number of police employed, we find that the number of police has an additional

______________________________________________________________________________
3. Sindall and Sturgis
4. Rińen (2014)

indirect influence on public confidence through its direct effect on visibility. By

implication, reducing police numbers is likely to erode public confidence in the
police even in frontline visibility is maintained through organizational efficiency.

This subject gained much attention in the West, and research on fear of crime
had almost exclusively been concentrated in the United States and other
English-speaking nations. Moreover, in line with growing interest in cross-
cultural research in the field of Criminology, recent studies had also examined
fear of crime in European countries such as Belgium (De Donder, Verte, &
Messelis, 2005 ; Pauwels & Pleysier, 2005) 4, Finland ( Salmi, Gronroos, &
Keskinen , 2004)5, and Italy ( Miceli, Roccato, & Rosato, 2004) 6. Even though the
cultural context in which crime is defined and people act is vital to
understanding crime, criminal behavior, and its impact (Robertson, 2006) 7, only
a limited number of studies investigated fear of crime in non- Western countries
(Adu-Mireku, 2002; Dammert & Molone, 2006; Hwang, 2006; Johnson, 2006) 8

Doyle, M., Frogner, L. Andeshed, H. Et. Eur J Crime Policy Res (2016) 9 (Feeling
safety in the presence of police security guards and police volunteers) stated in
their study that uniformed presence is commonly thought to create feelings of
safety to people.

Zhao et. Al10 as they concluded in their study that police presence does have a
strong impact on public fear reduction. In addition, proactive or /and
community policing strategies appear to us to demonstrate the strongest impact
on fear reduction among residents, Simultaneously, we found out that public
satisfaction id strongly associated with the success of a fear reduction program.

______________________________________________________________________________
5. De Donder, Verte, & Messelis, 2005 ; Pauwels & Pleysier, 2005
6. Salmi, Gronroos, & Keskinen , 2004
7. Miceli, Roccato, & Rosato, 2004
8. Robertson, 2006
9. Adu-Mireku, 2002; Dammert & Molone, 2006; Hwang, 2006; Johnson, 2006
In other words, a successful fear reduction program can increase public
satisfaction with police services.

Doyle, M., Frogner, L. Andeshed, H. Et. Eur J Crime Policy Res (2016) 9 (Feeling
safety in the presence of police security guards and police volunteers) stated in
their study that uniformed presence is commonly thought to create feelings of
safety to people.

Zhao et. Al10 as they concluded in their study that police presence does have a
strong impact on public fear reduction. In addition, proactive or /and
community policing strategies appear to us to demonstrate the strongest impact
on fear reduction among residents, Simultaneously, we found out that public
satisfaction id strongly associated with the success of a fear reduction program.
In other words, a successful fear reduction program can increase public
satisfaction with police services.

Local

The PNP indicates that the decrease in the volume of the crime is attributable to
PNP’s crime programs (Sun. Star 20 Sept. 2007) 11. Specifically, the PNP has
reportedly increase police visibility, made use of foot patrol officers, established
checkpoints, deployed motorcycle police and undertaken night watch operations,
among other initiatives (Sun. Star 20 Sept.2007). Moreover, the PNP states in
press release that they posted a “crime solution efficiency” of 88.37 percent
(Philippines 6 Feb, 2008) 12. Corroborating information pertaining to this crime
solution rate could not be found among sources consulted by research
directorate.

____________________________________________________________________________
10. Doyle, M., Frogner, L. Andeshed, H. Et. Eur J Crime Policy Res (2016)
11. Zhao et. Al
12. (Sun. Star 20 Sept. 2007)
 Chapter III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE

This chapter reveals the method used in the study, the respondents and
the main instruments employed in gathering pertinent data and information
including its validation and administration. It also describes other research
techniques used as additional source of information and the tools employed in
the statistical treatment of data and other information gathered relevant to the
specific problems of investigation.

Research Design

This study used the descriptive method of research which is designed to

gather information about existing conditions. Descriptive research according to
Aquino involves collecting data in order to test to hypothesis or answer questions
concerning the status of the subject of the study. It involves description;
recording, analysis and interpretation of condition that now exist.

This method is appropriate in this study since it obtain complete and

accurate information on the perceived effect of police visibility in the different
establishments in the Municipality of San Pablo.

Local of the Study

This study, was conducted in the Municipality of San Pablo. The

Municipality is politically subdivided into 21 barangays.
Selection and Description of Respondents

Data Gathering Instruments

In order to obtain necessary data, the researchers used questionnaire. The

questionnaire was developed by the researchers which was validated by
Knowledgeable individuals in the field . The researchers also consulted their
Research Adviser and the Dean of the College of Criminology of St. Ferdinand
College. Unstructured interview was also used to confirm the validity and
accuracy of the respondents of the the respondents .

Data Gathering Procedure

Before the questionnaire was administered by the researchers, permission

as first sought from the Office of the Chief of Police of the Municipality of San
Pablo. Upon approval, the researcher personally administered the survey
questionnaire among respondents. Analysis and interpretation of data where
done after the retrieval of the questionnaire.

Statistical Treatment of Data

The data gathered was tallied and statistically treated through the
following tools.

Frequency of Percentage

This was used to identify the establishment in the Municipality of San

Pablo were police staff visible. The same statistical tool was also applied in
determining in profile visibility and the number of hours spent in the concern
area
 Formula:

P =F/N * 100

Where P= Percentage

F= Formula

N= Total number of Frequency

Weighted Mean. This was utilized to determine the perceived effect of

police visibility in the Municipality of San Pablo.

Formula :

X = Weighted Mean

= Sum of Frequency

N = Total number of Frequency

T- Test. This was employed to test the significant relationship between the
profiles of police visibility as strategy and the effect of police visibility in the
Municipality of San Pablo.

Data Analysis Procedure

To determine the perceived effect of police visibility in the Municipality of San

Pablo, the scale below with corresponding interpretation was used:

Scale. Interval. Description

1. 1.00- 1.79 Strongly Disagree

2. 1.80-2.59 Slightly Disagree

3. 2.60-3.39 Undecided

4. 3.40-4.19 Agree

5. 4.20-5.00 Strong Agree

 Conceptual Paradigm

Independent Variables Dependent Variables

Profile of the Determine the:

respondents in terms
of: 1. Identification of
establishments in the
a. Age;
San Pablo Isabela
b. Sex; where police
c. Civil Status; personnel are visible
2. Profile of the police
d. Religion;
visibility as strategy
e. Educational Perceived effect of police
Attainment; visibility in the
establishment in the
f. Occupation
San Pablo, Isabela

Classification:

1. PNP Personnel
2. Community
3. Brgy. Official
4. School Personnel
Moderator

Figure 1: Paradigm of the Study