Body cams, now

Res ipsa loquitur. The thing speaks for itself. I'm talking about the now-viral video of a plainclothes police officer firing a revolver, what else, three times into a safe direction before tossing it beside the dead suspect who I assume he just killed. If the suspect had a gun and shot it out with the police, why the need to fire the gun three times after he's dead? It doesn't take any brains to see this as a case of planting evidence or what is called "tanim-baril" to support the ever-so-popular term since 2016, "nanlaban". Presumption of regularity, my foot.

The police officer in the video, Patrolman Benzoin Gonzales, unfortunately, met his demise five days after this incident took place, a victim of a traffic accident. Karma? Justice? Take your pick. Some would say he was lucky not to face the music after the video hit social media. The Police Regional Office-Northern Mindanao is investigating the incident calling it an isolated case while the PNP Anti-Cyber Crime Group is looking into the authenticity of the video. Right. Of course, they would. They should look into the other persons seen in the video while Gonzales was busy staging the crime. Were they in on it? The fact that they witnessed a crime in itself and did not report it is suspect.

Let's assume the video is authentic - I don't see why it isn't - it throws more shade into the anti-drug war of this administration. It casts doubt on every deadly anti-drug operation where the suspect or suspects supposedly fought it out or "nanlaban". As if we don't have the cases of Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Kian Delos Santos to already cast doubts on these anti-drug operations. Here we have a video justifying those doubts. We can only imagine how many times this scene has played in the last four years. We currently have two bloody incidents where the police are singing the same song, shooting because they were shot at first.

I don't understand why the use of police body cams during operations is not yet being implemented. The PNP is obviously dragging its feet. If all anti-drug operations are truly legit then all the more should they have videos to prove it. It offers protection to themselves as well as the public. The PNP doesn't seem to accept the notion of their operations being recorded. The citizenry should be equipped with all the recording devices at its disposal from cellphone cameras to CCTVs to catch incidences such as this "tanim-baril". It's the only way we can protect ourselves, which is ironic considering who is supposed to be doing the serving and protecting.