Its efficient management and collaboration with other local government agencies and communities have earned the Valenzuela City Police Station (VCPS) the recognition of being this year’s best city police station in Metro Manila.

During the celebration of the 113^th Police Service Day of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) on August 9 at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, VCPS Chief of Police Rhoderick Armamento received from Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Alan Purisima the Best City Police Station Award, besting 37 other city police stations in the region.

This has been the first time the VCPS is conferred the award since 2006.

The 470-strong VCPS is also the recipient of the Recognition for a Unit with Past and Continuing Notable Accomplishment Beyond the Rating Period, City Police Station Category.

Armamento himself was cited with the Achievement Award in the Field of Administration, while SPO3 Armando Garcia won the Achievement Award for General Support.

The VCPS was awarded in December 2013 by the PNP the Certificate of Performance Government System for having passed the initiation stage of the organizational evaluation system, the first to do so among the 1,674 city police stations in the country.

The PGS is the national police’s scorecard with which the performance of every police station in the country is measured. Under the PGS, a police station must pass four stages: initiation, compliance, proficiency, and initiation.

Among the police functions measured by the PGS is crime solution efficiency, of which VCPS posted a rate of 49 per cent in 2013. This is a significant increase from the 31 per cent in 2012.

Armamento said the VCPS’s success is largely due to it working closely with local government agencies and communities.

“The police are expected to be seen, heard, and experienced. Here in Valenzuela, we make it a point that the police also assist the local government in the delivery of basic services to the community,” Armamento said.

For instance, Armamento said, the VCPS cooperates with the local social welfare office in promoting laws on violence against women and children and children in conflict with the law. 

Besides helping victims file cases against their abusers, the Women and Children Protection Desk (WCPD) also conducts lectures on preventing abuse among women in barangays. For CICLS, the VCPS runs its own diversionary programs that include martial arts training.

The VCPS enlists the community in preventing crimes through innovative programs like the Citizen-Police Bikes on Patrol, composed of bicycle-riding civilians and police beat patrollers.

Police services are brought nearer to communities through the Valenzuela Police- on- Wheels, a mobile police precinct.

In police-community events, a mascot entertains the crowd, projecting a friendlier police image. SPO3 Garcia is the wearer of the SPO1 Valenzuela mascot.

“An effective way [for the police] to win the hearts and minds of the people in the community is by becoming their bridge to the local government,” Armamento said.