“There’s no such thing as quota arrest,” Nartatez said at a press briefing.
Nartatez pointed out that police units are operating based on the intelligence they obtain.
“Our operations not only in the Philippine National Police but also in different law enforcement agencies, including the Armed Forces—how do they conduct patrol or combat patrol? It is intel-based,” he added.
Focus crimes
Nartatez pointed out that the PNP’s target is to arrest 100% of wanted persons and reduce the focus crimes to zero.
“How can we say that we’re going to impose a quota of about 100 or what? What we’re doing is we have these wanted persons and we should arrest them. And where is the quota there or what is the ideal? The ideal is 100%,” he said.
“In the same way, if we have recorded 100 focus crimes in a certain area in a certain period and on a macro-level, what is the action plan of the PNP and the lower units? The ideal one is to have zero focus crimes,” he added.
Focus crimes are offenses considered as serious in nature with sufficient frequency and regularity. These include murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, theft, and carnapping of vehicles and motorcycles.
Earlier, a human rights group called on Nartatez to end the supposed quota on arrests.
“The group calls on the new PNP acting chief to rescind the policy on quota arrests, which only worsens impunity and jail congestion without truly addressing crime,” the group said.
