Another (standard) lapse in security

It isn’t even a week since the deadly shootings inside a courtroom in Cebu City, where the gunman, Canadian John Pope was able to bring in several handguns even with the presence of “security guards”, now we have a robbery on a jewelry store inside a mall that has several entry points, all with “security guards”! A jewelry store inside SM Megamall was robbed, and as the robbers fled they fired their guns to create panic and confusion among the people and the security guards themselves! I cannot help but be sarcastic about the security arrangements of these places, mainly because they have failed dismally!

In the case of the Cebu incident, the guard adamantly declares that Pope was security checked before entering the Palace of Justice. Well where did the guns come from then? Somebody handed him the guns once inside? Really? I am definite that Pope knew how these “security guards” conducted their inspections, to make him confident that he would be able to sneak in a pair of handguns. A pair!

The same is true in SM Megamall. The criminals knew that by evening, the guards are already too tired or bored to conduct a thorough security check, , and would just go through the motions, as they normally do anyway! It is the same almost everywhere, with guards already too tired, too bored or just too lazy to conduct a thorough security check of everyone entering these establishments. These are the moments that criminals look for. These are the precursors to disaster!

It is time for establishments like malls, banks, government offices, buildings and the like to make use of magnetometers, or the so-called metal detectors that people walk through, like the ones we see at NAIA. If the scanners pick up anything metal, a very thorough search is then conducted to find the device, or the weapon. Sad to say, humans will male more mistakes than a machine. And machines do not get bored, do not get tired and do not become lazy. For as long as they are in good working condition, they will do what they are designed for.

One more thing I would like to bring up on this issue, is the race card. I believe that not only were the security guards at the Cebu Hall of Justice guilty of incompetence, but discrimination as well! I have seen this happen time and again. Foreigners, particularly Caucasians, get more preferential treatment than Filipinos, at the hands of Filipinos themselves! A Caucasian may be allowed to pass through security checks more easily than a Filipino, especially if he doesn’t look “well off” to begin with. I have relatives who have been subjected to this very treatment. Is it any wonder why we have a low self-esteem, because our own countrymen discriminate their own more than others! So that’s another thing that a metal detector will not do, discriminate! They should be standard, mandated by law, on all public establishments. Because there will always be that tired, bored, lazy and discriminatory security personnel that will let one too many criminals slip by undetected!