Community Perception on the Level of Police Response to COVID-19 Pandemic

In providing public safety services, the Philippine National Police (PNP) fully supported the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases, particularly in addressing the COVID-19 outbreak. This study aimed to recognize the community's perception of the level of police response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Brgy. VI and Gulang-Gulang. This quantitative research utilized the descriptive method. This method is designed to identify the perception of the community towards the activities of the PNP and assess the police response during the pandemic. This method is appropriate to identify the different protocols imposed by the PNP and evaluate the efficiency of police response during the pandemic. A structured questionnaire was utilized as the data gathering instrument, formulated by the researchers and validated by the experts in the field of the study. The questionnaires were distributed to 100 respondents chosen through a simple random sampling method. Furthermore, the collected data was tabulated and analyzed using frequency, percentage, and weighted mean. Based on the analysis of the findings of this research, the majority of the community strongly agrees with the activities that are being implemented by the PNP. The communities also identified that social media is an effective tool used by PNP in relaying health protocols and guidelines to reduce COVID-19. Based on the evaluation of the respondents, the police response was highly efficient during the pandemic. This study recommended that PNP should continue to improve their performance through supporting the national and local government programs regarding the COVID-19 guidelines and protocols. The PNP should also be encouraged to develop and improve the police community relations activities and programs that they bring to the community.