Strengthening Communication between prosecution and law enforcement
Northern Mindanao Region Dialogue
HSF
As part of the continuing efforts to strengthen communication between prosecutors and police investigators, city and provincial prosecutors and police investigators of the Northern Mindanao Region gathered for a dialogue activity in Cagayan de Oro on 06 November 2019. Amongst the more than 65 participants were representatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detective Management, Department of Social Welfare and Development, National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Regional Anti-Cybercrime Unit.
More than exchanging issues and concerns, the participants discussed suggestions to address these and come up with possible solutions they can work on together in order to foster better communication and understanding between and amongst the different agencies and offices.
As of this dialogue activity, the series has been running for twenty-six months with a total of twenty-six dialogues held for participants from the five provinces of the Northern Mindanao Region – Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, Camiguin, Lanao del Norte and Bukidnon.
In informal exchanges, participants acknowledged having improved communication with one another as members of the two of the five pillars of the criminal justice system. They also shared observations as to how the enhanced collaboration between prosecution and law enforcement has had a positive effect on their coordination with the other stakeholders -- such as social workers and environmental officers -- who had had the chance to participate in the dialogue activities during which cases involving children in conflict with the law (CICL) and environmental cases were discussed.
HSF
Unique to this fourth regional dialogue, which gathered participants from the five provinces of the region, was the participation of other stakeholders, including representatives from the Women and Children’s Protection Desks, the Police Regional Anti-Cybercrime Unit, the City Social Welfare Office (CSWO), and the regional offices of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
The compilation of results of exchanges and sharing of issues and concerns were presented with actions taken thus far at the local level, where applicable and possible, and with corresponding suggestions to resolve them for other prevailing concerns. Those that need to be reviewed and decided on by the top-level officials were included as part of policy recommendations. These were agreed upon to be presented during the second Top-Level Policy Dialogue planned to be held in Manila by the end of November 2019.
A consolidated report on the information and exchange visit to Germany last June 2019 of the high-ranking delegation of DOJ prosecutors and the PNP-DIDM police officers was also discussed, along with key observations and recommendations. Overall positive feedback was juxtaposed with the reality on the ground that some of the practices that are seen to be working well in the Federal State of Bavaria may only serve as inspiration rather than be copied to the letter.
The activity was organised by the Department of Justice-National Prosecution Service with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation as part of the partnership between the two organisations on the program, “Dialogue between Prosecutors and Police Investigators from the Northern Mindanao Region,” which began in 2017.