By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

OFFICERS of the Division of Youth Services assigned to the juvenile detention center in Kagman attended a two-week training that ended today.
DYS Director Deborah Inos said the purpose of this training is to equip their personnel with necessary tools should they encounter uncontrollable behavior on the part of either the “direct client” — the detainee —o r somebody from outside the facility.
She said the training is a collaborative effort of DYS and the Department of Public Safety to ensure the protection of the detainees and the officers themselves.
Thirty-four DYS personnel participated in the training, she said, with 18 attending the sessions from Feb. 5 to 9, and the other 16 completing the training today.
The facility, Inos said, “has vocational, counseling and recreational activities,”
Rose Teregeyo, the officer in-charge at the juvenile detention center, said the 15 participants included juvenile probation officers, detention officers and child protective unit investigators.
They were taught defensive techniques in dealing with “attackers in severe situations.”
Although the ages of the detainees range from 14 to 18 years old, Teregeyo said “they are teenagers who want to be adults, so things can happen that may require the use of hands by DYS officers.”
The officer safety training, according to Police Officer 3 Frankie Pangelinan, aims to give the officers instruction in the proper use of force in dealing with the young detainees.
The training, he said, involves the use of verbal commands and hands for defensive tactics, as well as impact weapons, including firearms..
“I’m here to pass on to them basic training on how to survive at their job sites,” Pangelinan said. “They’re given lessons that range from maintaining professionalism which means how to carry themselves as officers, to engaging in takedown techniques in hand to hand combat.”
Inos said there will be more follow-up training sessions this year.