Cop gets punished for breaking traffic rules

For one senior police officer who violated traffic rules, punishment was either a hundred squat jumps and push ups or writing the words "I will park my car properly next time" 200 times.

This after the erring officer was caught by Southern Police District director Prospero Noble Jr. on a national road in Pasay City yesterday.

Noble said police officers should set an example in abiding by the law. "How can we be credible if we ourselves do not follow the law?"

Noble said the senior officer from the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) parked his car in the middle of the Taft Avenue Extension. The police were deployed to Redemptorist Road in Baclaran to monitor illegal vendors who keep going back to the area.

"A policeman, senior at that, should learn the value of discipline. That’s why we have to nag him," said Noble, who refused to name the erring officer.

The director said he has asked the officer to make the choice. "He chose the hundred push ups and squat jumps, but I worried about messing up his uniform so I asked him to go for the second option," Noble explained."It is very elementary, but he has to learn."

A source told The STAR that Noble is known for his strictness. And it is precisely this reason why he was assigned to head the district.

Noble inspects the controversial Redemptorist Road every day. He also conducts regular dialogues with vendors, added the source, a police chief.– Edu Punay