PALO, Leyte, (PIA) — The Philippine National Police (PNP) in Eastern Visayas launched the new Crime Incident Reporting System, also known as the “e-Blotter” system, at the Leyte Police Provincial Office, Tacloban City Police Office and at the Ormoc City Police Office.

PNP Region 8 Director Arnold Revilla said that the three police offices are the pilot areas in Region 8 for the e-Blotter system which is one of PNP Chief Nicanor Bartolome’s top programs geared towards enhancing the crime reporting system in the country for effective law enforcement, public safety and efficient administration of justice.

The e-Blotter does not only facilitate crime documentation and modernize data storage but also presents quick, fast and reliable transmission of crime information from police station to the PNP headquarters at Camp Crame, Quezon City as an effective management tool for decision makers and security strategists to have an easy and intelligent way of mapping out peace and order and anti-criminality strategy, Director Revilla added.

The main goal of the e-Blotter system is to have a daily update on what is really happening on the ground, particularly in every police station which is vital in mapping out strategies for quick response and crime prevention.

Meanwhile, Police Senior Superintendent Elizar Egloso, chief of the Regional Police Community Relations Division, said that the e-Blotter is designed as a stand-alone system which will be installed in all police stations as a means of reporting and monitoring all crime incidents that transpired within their respective areas as well as the results and records of the investigation.

While the traditional blotter has been recognized as a symbol of police authority, the e-Blotter on the other hand, ensures accuracy in crime data documentation, reliability in storage for quick reference and hassle-free transmission of data to the end recipient of all police reports at the Philippine National Police, Egloso explained.

The new system is a cost-free project since the software is being developed locally by the programmers of the PNP Information Technology Management Service (ITMS) and shall be installed into the desktop of every police stations and units.

More importantly, this new management tool will not only simplify the gathering and organization of crime information but also provide instant and accurate crime statistics that is tamper-free, Egloso added.

Egloso disclosed that the e-Blotter software have been installed at the three pilot police offices, from the 20 equipments needed for the new system, which were received from Camp Crame.

Currently, selected police officers from the Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division are conducting hands-on trainings on how to use the new system. Later on, this will be re-echoed and disseminated to other police stations, Egloso said.

Moreover, Egloso said that this new system will promote transparency in the police community since it is one way of enhancing the crime reporting system in the country for effective law enforcement, which requires comprehensive, adequate and timely information on crimes.

Before, when citizens want to report a crime or file a complaint, they would usually go to the police station and a police officer will take handwritten notes in a huge log book called the police blotter.

With the new system, however, the reports would still be logged manually but at the same time, they will be encoded in a computer linked to the police's central reporting network called the PNP Crime Incident Reporting System, Egloso said.