MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine National Police (PNP) is gearing up for the opening of classes in June and will be deploying 18,850 personnel nationwide and 7,441 police assistance desks (PADs).

In a statement, the PNP said its priority concerns include preventing bullying and street crimes like pickpocketing, snatching, swindling, robbery, and street-level drug trafficking.

Local PNP units have also been told to coordinate with Education department officials “and to increase police visibility operations at school premises to prevent out of school youth from bullying pupils/students during the whole school year.”

In Manila’s “university belt” area alone, the PNP National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) will be deploying over 2,500 police personnel to reinforce existing foot and mobile operations of local police units and barangay personnel.

Nationwide, the PNP said security coverage will be done by PADs, alongside the local government’s forces and parent-teachers associations in “areas of convergence.”

The PNP also gave tips for parents and students to prevent crime as classes open on June 2 for public schools and June 6 for most private schools:

• Parents should communicate with the teacher and school security guard, and let kids know when they’ll be fetched and who will fetch them 
• Avoid talking to strangers
• Avoid wearing jewelry, bringing large amounts of cash, or using cellphones while on the streets

– Rappler.com