Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Police General Debold Sinas said Thursday cops should stop playing arrestoguinaldo pranks on civilians as they could cause anxiety to the general public.
Sinas was asked for a reaction about Cebu City Police’s prank wherein the cops pretended to arrest civilians, but they will just give them Christmas gifts in reality.
The cops’ prank was dubbed as “arrestoguinaldo,” wherein police would serve arrest warrants to some civilians. They would be brought to the police vehicle, where they would be surprised by the cops’ gifts.
For the PNP chief, such a gimmick is not part of his order to police officers.
“Wala naman ‘yun sa regular directive namin. Baka initiative lang po ng mga lower units natin. Titingnan ko po kung ano ang nangyari, maybe kung it’s good, then we could support it, but if it already caused anxiety sa publiko at sa mga kababayan natin, I will direct them to stop such practices po,” Sinas told CNN-Philippines.
Sinas admitted that he does not fully know the story behind the ‘arrestoguinaldo’ prank, noting he would still ask the police officers involved in the activity.
Sinas wants cops to stop ‘arrestoguinaldo’ prank
“Alamin ko pa po kung ano ang sitwasyon na ‘yan baka kung ano ‘yung gimmick ng pulis natin doon. I have no actual knowledge po doon,” Sinas said.
“Maybe, I’ll talk to those in charge po doon, at alamin kung how it was carried out, kung ano ‘yung intention, ano ‘yung program. Baka sa kanila lang po ‘yun, and they want just to impress people,” he added.
Meanwhile, PNP spokesman Police Brigadier General Ildebrandi Usana told GMA News Online that the cops imitated the prank they watched in foreign videos.
“The intention by a group of police officers is to make a ‘target victim fall into their trap’ and then make fun out of a post-staged act revelation,” Usana said.
“To the person/s subject of that scenario, they may end up shocked or laughing as the result of such unexpected situation. We have seen this in some local reality programs naman po. Some have worked, some have not,” he explained.