Napolcom Tightens Screening In Police Recruitment

The National Police Commission (Napolcom) will be more stringent in its recruitment processes, after discovering that most of the administrative complaints it handles involve young officers.

Napolcom Vice Chairman Rafael Calinisan observed that “a good majority” of over 4,000 backlog cases his agency had tackled implicated new police officers.

“It just tells us that we need to tighten the entry of new cops,” Calinisan said in an interview with The Philippine STAR on Friday, Feb. 6.

The reforms will focus on two aspects: strengthening legal education in criminology schools and making neuro-psychiatric examinations more rigorous.

Calinisan admitted that many police officers lack the “mastery of law” that is crucial for their duties.

“Our ordinary police officers are mostly criminologists, but they don’t know exceptions to warrantless arrests,” the Napolcom executive officer said. “That’s dangerous because they might have good intentions and be well-meaning … but they should know the law.”

He said the Napolcom and the Philippine National Police Academy have been reviewing the criminology curriculum since November 2025. 

For now, the Napolcom is leveraging its agreement with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines to provide in-person workshops and legal aid to active police members, aiming to prevent “minor procedural lapses” in police operations that often lead to case dismissals.

Psychiatrists

Napolcom will also forge ties with psychiatric groups to strengthen the “moral fiber” of the police force, Calinisan said.

He said the agency is considering hiring additional psychiatrists to ensure all officers and aspirants undergo rigorous screening.

Assessing the moral fitness of prospective officers is two-fold: a neuro-psychiatric exam consisting of 35 items to evaluate mental stability and emotional maturity, and a comprehensive background check.

Calls for regular neuro-psychiatric exams for officers intensified, after the late M/Sgt. Jonel Nuezca shot a woman and her son in Paniqui, Tarlac, in December 2020.

In the aftermath of the incident, Sen. Ronald dela Rosa lamented that neuro-psychiatric tests should be administered to all officers at least once a year.

Calinisan assured the public that these stricter measures will not reduce the number of recruits, given that the police force remains far from the ideal ratio of one officer per 500 Filipinos.

“We need to recruit the right kind of people,” Calinisan said. 

Illegal arrest 

Meanwhile, a group of carpenters, laborers and a security guard has filed two sets of administrative complaints before Napolcom against 16 personnel of the Dasmariñas City Police, accusing them of alleged illegal arrest and violations of standard police procedures.

According to the 18 complainants, they were working at a property in Dasmariñas City when police officers allegedly stopped and arrested them without warrant of arrest.

The complainants further claimed that upon arrival at the police station, they were handcuffed and treated as criminal suspects without being informed of the reason for their arrest, an experience they said caused fear, humiliation and distress.

The identities of the officers involved have not been disclosed pending investigation. – With an additional report from Arnell Ozaeta