THE Philippine National Police is shooting for a professional, highly motivated force. AFP

Former Philippine National Police chief Ronald “Bato” De la Rosa pressed yesterday the return of the training of police recruits to the PNP to lessen the number of erring cops.

“There’s a great disconnect,” De la Rosa said in a mix of English and Filipino. “The PNP cannot insist on what it wants to happen with the recruits.”

“I want the police training reverted back to the PNP,” he added. “In the whole world, ours is the only police agency that doesn’t train its own policemen.”

He blamed that “disconnect” for the proliferation of rogue cops straight from the training with the lowest rank of Police Officer 1.

Republic Act 6975, which created the PNP under the Department of the Interior and Local Government, established the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC).

The PPSC took over the training of rookie policemen from the Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police Training Command, which it renamed PNP Training Command and later on the Police National Training Institute.

PPSC has the overall responsibility for the training not only of policemen but of all personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

Meanwhile, De la Rosa said he would push for the restoration of the death penalty for illegal drug traffickers if he is elected to the Senate next year.

“Foremost, I want the death penalty brought back for the drug traffickers, but not for the mere drug users or pushers,” he said.

The former PNP chief emphasized that the campaign against illegal drugs by the government is not targeting the poor.