Amid allegations of brutality and rubouts in some of its operations, the Philippine National Police (PNP) is seeking to refine its image by subjecting its personnel to paralegal training focusing mainly on the respect for human rights.

Police Director Raul Bacalzo, chief of the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, said a total of 120 policemen will undergo paralegal seminars which will be handled by resource persons from the University of the Philippines Institute of Human Rights.

Bacalzo said the training will be conducted in three batches, 40 participants per batch.

The participants are investigators who normally are the first responders from different stations and anti-drug units of the Metro Manila Police and other police operating units, he said.

“The paralegal training for police investigators and first responders is an important endeavor that will help equip our police personnel with more legal knowledge and skills which will help ensure that the rights of our people are protected,” said Bacalzo.

“While human rights violation is perceived as accountability, it is considered more of an issue of competency and professionalism in the performance of our duties and responsibilities as law enforcement officers,” he said.

Bacalzo said the three-day training for each batch will concentrate on the topics such as observance of human rights in the conduct of operation, paralegal procedures which will focus on obtaining information vital for a criminal or civil case, legal procedures in criminal investigation and basic knowledge on getting testimonies and making affidavits.

He said the participants will also be educated on preserving crime scene following complaints of inefficiencies on the part of police investigators in conducting on-site probe.

“One important element in criminal investigation is learning to preserve a crime scene since it is important for the investigators to reconstruct events involving crime. While contamination may be unintentional, it is vital that police investigators be further trained to protect the crime scene until forensics can properly evaluate the details,” said Bacalzo.

The training for the first batch of policemen started on Tuesday at the function room of the Public Safety Mutual Benefit Fund Building on Boni Serrano Avenue in Quezon City.