Tuesday, January 08, 2008 Editorials: Boldness of armed criminals
THE shooting incident that resulted in the death of a Mandaue cop and the wounding of another is but the latest in the growing number of violent cops-versus-criminals confrontations here.
This development can be viewed two ways:
One, that the quality of our police personnel has so declined that they end up at the losing end of encounters with armed people or, two, that armed criminals have become so daring they no longer have any qualms about gunning down cops.
Either way, the police hierarchy should look closely at this disturbing trend.
Assessment
For one, it can assess the Mandaue incident and add the lessons culled from it to the ones learned from the killing of PO1 Noriel Luage in Barangay Zapatera, Cebu City.
The Luage case involved a police team serving a search warrant on a subject that was considered armed and dangerous; much of the lessons were about preparation, or the lack of it, in the launching of the operation (like briefing and use of protective gear).
The incident that involved Mandaue cops SPO1 Pedro Sucion and PO2 Darius Conejos, meanwhile, was about chasing and attempting to stop fleeing armed men.
It was also about police mobility, that is, if one considers the report that Conejos did radio Mandaue City Police Office’s Police Station 1, which did not have a patrol car.
And if it is true that Conejos failed to fire back because he forgot to release the safety lock of his pistol, then it could also be about gun proficiency.
Challenge
Assessments of unfortunate incidents, however, are theoretical and are useless if those concerned will only browse through the lessons and are not determined to apply them in actual police work, or worse, forget about them altogether.
Also, judging from the problems that became easily visible in both the Luage and Sucion cases, the solution cannot be provided by the police hierarchy alone.
Local government officials, for example, should straighten up their acts and, if possible, not wait for the Philippine National Police hierarchy to provide the needed financial help for, say, the purchase of police vehicles and protective gears.
The point is to ensure that the quality of police personnel will be up to the challenge posed by the boldness showed recently by armed criminals.
