Roots
Bad cop, good cop
By Marifi Jara
QUELIMANE, Mozambique–You’ve got to give it to text power and citizen vigilance.
It took just one person from the community to send one text message to the police headquarters in Camp Crame to round up five police officers in Mangaldan who were having a grand Sunday night last week — with a lewd show right inside the town’s police station!
It sounded almost unbelievable. I had to ask myself: Could some of our policemen actually be that foul? The answer is, sadly, yes, because they were actually caught in the act.
You’ve also got to give it to the police command for the quick response and action. A message was sent immediately to the Pangasinan office and voila!, the show was still on when officers from the provincial command came over to investigate. The officers involved have been relieved and a formal investigation is set. The town’s police chief, Supt. Roberto Vocal, has also been relieved and will be investigated even if he wasn’t there during the shameful incident. It’s command responsibility, says the new regional police director, Chief Superintendent Orlando M. Mabutas.
It’s exactly episodes like these (just like news or even just grapevine buzz of police involvement in illegal drug dealing, protection of criminals, and abuse through kotong) that contribute to and substantiate the “Low public perception of the integrity and competency of the police”, as the Philippine National Police (PNP) itself puts it, which is one of the main reasons why it has an ongoing “transformation” program.
The stains in their reputation, the PNP acknowledges, is a “reality that reduces our effectiveness to work with the community.”
The bad cops are spoiling the many progressive efforts of our good cops. An example of a good cop that first comes to mind is PO3 Ruth Poserio of Sta. Barbara (sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/2010/01/24/po3-poserio-cares-for-the-community/).
We see here that ‘community’ is a key word for the PNP. It also comes up in both its vision and mission statements. Vision: “The Men and Women of the PNP is committed to a vision of a professional, dynamic and highly motivated Philippine National Police working in partnership with a responsive community towards the attainment of a safe place to live, work, invest and do business with.” Mission: “To enforce the law, to prevent and control crimes, to maintain peace and order, and to ensure public safety and internal security with the active support of the community.”
Now that brings us back to how the folly in Mangaldan did not go unreported (and hopefully won’t ever be repeated): community participation + responsive police.
With the people helping to police the bad cops, we can start believing more that good cops will be there to “serve and protect” us. With trust and respect, the people and the police can jointly do many projects that will benefit the community.
And oh yes, let’s not forget the text technology factor in the equation. By the way, the police text hotline for non-emergency police response is 2920, which is what was used to report the Mangaldan case. Just type PNP (space) then your message. No need to test the police’s capability to decipher jejemon language. Better not to make the job harder for them.
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