EDITORIAL – Don’t let sleeping drunk cops lie

If you are active on social media, chances are you might have already seen that recent photo of a man who was sleeping drunk beside a street in Barangay Sta. Cruz in Cebu City. While there is nothing wrong with enjoying a drink or two as many of us do, the city does have ordinances against public intoxication or drunken behavior in public areas.

However, the scandal doesn’t stop there. The man had a gun tucked into the waistband of his pants visible for all to see, or to take if they so wished. It gets worse, the man is reportedly a policeman.

If it is established that the man was indeed a policeman he shouldn’t just be punished for presenting a bad image to the public, he should also be penalized for giving potential criminals a go at his firearm. The fact that someone was able to take a clear picture of him meant that anyone could have just come up to him and made off with that gun.

Then there is also the issue if that was the policeman’s service firearm. The way he carried out around, without a holster, seems to imply it wasn’t and he wanted to keep it hidden.

The fact that the act was committed in the middle of a gun ban issued for the Fiesta Señor and the Sinulog festivities adds even more gravity to this case.

Again, it has yet to be proven that that sleeping armed man was a policeman. And if it is, police higher-ups should be swift and decisive in dealing with this matter and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Considering the recent incident where no less than a police brigadier general was accused of snatching a reporter’s cellphone in an attempt to stop footage of policemen taking down a man from coming out in public, we don’t need any more bad publicity about our law enforcers.

Especially at this time when the eyes of the world are on Cebu for the Fiesta Señor and the Sinulog festivities.