Police by day, criminals by night

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Loosely translated, this Latin phrase by the Roman poet Juvenal means, “Who will guard the guardians?” And this has been the perennial problem we have had as far as the situation today with the Philippine National Police. Everyday we read more and more reports about crimes and abuses committed by the supposed protectors and guardians of the people.

Of all the worst possible crimes one could imagine, nothing can be more disgusting than knowing it was committed by someone in uniform — the very person whom people are expected to trust with literally their lives. To be graphic about it — imagine a situation where a woman is raped, calls the police for help and the very same police officer rapes the victim again. This certainly holds true in the case of a vendor who was arrested by a Manila policeman, then was robbed and raped right inside the headquarters of the Manila Police District. 

Not surprisingly, our friend Manila Mayor Fred Lim — a distinguished and well-respected former police officer — fumed at the news, calling for the errant cop’s arrest and immediate dismissal from the service. This is the kind of “bantay-salakay” (when the supposed guard is the one who commits the crime) mentality that Filipinos have always been wary of and have become so cynical about.

While many people agree with Senator Gringo Honasan’s call for a heavier punishment — in fact the “maximum penalty” — to be dispensed to erring policemen once their guilt is proven, there are also a lot of people who disagree with Gringo’s assessment that a few bad eggs should not destroy the whole police force.

The fact of the matter is, it’s been proven on many occasions that a few rotten apples if left long enough can infect and destroy the rest of the bunch. All the positive things that the entire police force may have done over the years can be thrown down the garbage bin by just one (highly-publicized) wrongdoing by one or a few policemen.

We can only sympathize with PNP Chief General Raul Bacalzo who, despite the brickbats that the police force has been getting from a lot of sectors, has kept his composure. A majority of people still believes that he is the right person to lead the beleaguered institution and implement the numerous changes and reforms that are needed to repair the damaged reputation and image of our police force. It’s really sad when people sarcastically refer to the men in uniform as “Pulis Patola.”

Lets face the facts: these reforms and changes will cost a lot of money. The most basic equipment such as the provision of service firearms (not just night sticks or batuta) to the men up to an increase in salaries to the provision of housing and even educational scholarships to the children of policemen require a substantial amount of funding. General Bacalzo talked about the need to review the recruitment policies/process of the PNP, seeing that a lot of the recent crimes reported involved rookies. Perhaps the good general may want to look into allegations that some recruitment officers are involved in “big business” when they receive applications. Reliable sources informed us young men — with the approval of some parents — shell out as much as P50,000 just to be admitted to the PNP.

Definitely, there is a need to evaluate the neuro-psychiatric tests administered to applicants and determine if these are in step with the times. God forbid if psychologists or psychiatrists are still using outdated and obsolete assessment tools that have long been repudiated by the rest of the world — which could mean some trigger happy person could end up becoming an armed, and surely dangerous, policeman.  

Many also think the PNP chief is on the right track with his decision to bring back the doctrine of command responsibility and make ground commanders responsible for the actions and behavior of their men. This also implies the principle of leadership by example because from experience, it has been shown that men follow the lead of their superiors and are inspired by those who show sterling qualities. In the same token, the men can also be disheartened by a corrupt boss and as a consequence, engage in their own little acts of corruption turning into “kotong cops” in the process.

It’s also clear that the 130,000-strong police force is simply not enough to secure a population of 100 million Filipinos — and still rapidly growing. The ideal ratio is 1:500 (one policeman for every 500 citizens) but since not all cops are assigned to field duty, the cop-to-population ratio could reach a dismal 1:1,000. According to General Bacalzo, they would need 15,000 new recruits every year for the PNP to catch up with the ever-growing population.

But perhaps more than any policy review or enforcement of heavier penalties to erring cops, Congress should also take into consideration the “rewards system” as proposed by General Bacalzo. Which is why we urge our legislators and those in authority to find ways to take better care of our police and show them that they are much appreciated for their work. In fairness, the majority of our policemen are dedicated in their jobs and more often than not risk their lives. When all is said and done, it is best to compensate them with better salaries and other just benefits — anything less can only mean more of these police officers turning out to be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — police by day, criminals by night. 

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