WATCH: Architect of PNP PATROL Plan says ‘you can’t give what you don’t have’
Retired Police Brig. General Noel A. Baraceros has been the driving force behind the reform movement in the Philippine National Police (PNP), having shepherded the implementation of “PNP PATROL Plan 2030″ since its inception in 2010.
Baraceros has fully embraced the mission of transforming the police force into “a highly capable, effective and credible police service” by working closely with the community that it has sworn to serve and protect. The P.A.T.R.O.L. stands for “Peace and Order Agenda for Transformation and Upholding the Rule of Law.”
In an exclusive interview with the Inquirer Mobile, he shed light on the progress and ongoing challenges of the reform movement in the PNP that started right at the rebirth of the police force in 1991. Back then, he disclosed that the PNP was already facing the same “dysfunctions” that continue to hound the police force.
But the soft-spoken strategist stressed that the “majority of the PNP are still good officers, well-meaning officers, good servants of the (people).”
Having spent 28 years of his life “among those who are promoting the transformation program of the PNP,” Baraceros has explanations for the dysfunctions in the PNP and solutions to fix them.
“The first thing we need to do to regain the trust and confidence of our people is for the PNP to be able to show that they are their true friends, that they are their true servants, that they are their protectors,” he said, adding: “We can do that by continuously implementing the long-term transformation program of the PNP that was started in 2010.”
Thus, the need for equipping police officers with skills, training, and resources needed to fulfill their core mission: to prevent and solve crimes because “the basic principle is that you can’t give what you don’t have,” he said.
Professional background
Baraceros’ career in the PNP largely shadowed the journey taken by the Patrol Plan.
Baraceros served in various capacities in the PNP Program Management Office (PMO), which was the precursor of the PNP Center for Police Strategy Management (CPSM), from 2008 to 2010, rising to become its chief of staff before becoming deputy chief of the PNP Public Information Office.
CPSM was created to function as the think tank and central management facility for the police’s integrated transformation projects. Baraceros served first as deputy director and then as director from 2011 to 2019.
A graduate of the Philippine Military Academy and the Asian Institute of Management, he spent a total of 9 years in the military, 28 years in the PNP, and 6 years with the secretariat of the United Nations peacekeeping operations in New York.
When he retired in 2019, he became chairman of the National Advisory Group for Police Transformation and Development, which oversees the Advisory Groups in various PNP units.
He is currently a member of the National Police Commission Advisory Council for Transformation, senior technical adviser at the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime, member of the Steering Committee of the Inter-Agency Multi-Disciplinary Committee on Crime Prevention, and the trustee and president of the Bayaning Pulis Foundation.
Hear more about his thoughts on reforming the police force and a new approach to the war on drugs in this interview.
