Many have expected that the court's ruling finding controversial policeman SP01 Adonis Dumpit guilty of homicide and sending him up to nine years in prison will greatly affect the performance of the police force.
Dumpit was convicted last week of homicide in the shooting to death of suspected robber Ron-Ron Go ten years ago. Already spending several years behind bars as he awaited the court's decision, it seemed the policeman would remain in prison for more years.
Despite his conviction, Dumpit still has reason to be thankful. This after the court downgraded his case to homicide from murder for lack of evidence from the prosecution, saying Go was not killed on purpose.
However, the court's decision, which had found him liable for homicide, was still unfavorable. And many would think that Dumpit's conviction could greatly affect the police in their fight against criminality.
We are not sure if his fellow officers at the Cebu City Police Office are now gravely demoralized. Despite the setback, however, life has to go on. The daily duty of protecting the public from lawlessness is still of paramount importance.
The unfortunate thing was that the court had uncovered some lapses in Dumpit's response to a crime. There's no question that the operation was legitimate. The only mistake, based on the court decision, lies in the way the policeman carried it out to neutralize a suspected robber.
However, Dumpit's colleagues should not let his conviction affect their job. Instead, they should take it as a big challenge. That, in the daily routine of their profession, there is a need to be seriously more careful in going after those criminals.
Dumpit may have acted in self-defense in gunning down Go, who was reportedly armed. But the main lesson we have to learn from his case is that silencing criminals does not have to mean snuffing out their lives. That's because, in the first place, policemen are always trained to primarily arrest not kill.