Overhaul the process

One cannot help but wonder why certain things happen, especially here in the Philippines. For one thing, I cannot for the life of me, understand why policemen with existing criminal cases against them are still free to roam the streets, armed and with obviously no respect for the law. Take the case of PO2 Manuel Fuentes assigned at the Moriones police station. He was recently arrested for pointing his gun on a village watchman, and demanding civilians in the community to produce illegal drugs. All these were captured on CCTV. It turns out that he already has a case of kidnapping when he abducted a tricycle driver in July of this year. He also has a case of robbery filed against him last year. He is currently assigned to the Police Holding and Administrative Unit at Camp Crame, but went AWOL last September 21. Two cases of serious criminal offenses and all he gets is a suspension and assigned to a unit that clearly has no hold nor control over him and his activities? It is only fortunate that he has not killed anyone, yet. 

You see what is wrong here. Policemen accused of crimes are not really incarcerated nor jailed, merely "assigned" to this unit in Camp Crame. I would think that they are allowed to go home at the end of the day and report the next day. So what really prevents them from going AWOL which is exactly what Fuentes did? What hold does the PNP have on erring cops?

Even DILG Sec. Mel Sarmiento wonders why this system seems to persist. This now leads to a review and possible complete overhaul of the process by which erring cops are charged and detained. This involves the People's Law Enforcement Board, the PNP and the National Police Commission. Cases against scalawags seem to drag on forever, so the process must be made simpler and faster. And because these rogue policemen already have a criminal streak in them, they continue to commit crimes while scot-free and even armed. All the more reason to speed up their processing. The holding unit at Camp Crame is practically useless. If they are allowed to leave, why even call it a holding area?

Police officers involved in crimes must automatically be detained and disarmed. These are not ordinary men. They are trained to fight crime, possessing the skills not normally available to anyone. They are trained to use guns and will use them when necessary. In other words, they are trained to kill. These are all well and good while they serve and protect. But they become dangerous and lethal when they cross into the dark side.

They simply cannot be allowed to roam the streets while cases already exist against them. If they can detain a senator with criminal cases, why not policemen?