Saturday, March 15, 2008 Police: back in the limelight
The killing of student Ruby Jade Ruba in Cebu City and the more recent heist in Lapu-Lapu City on Cebuana Lhuillier employees has brought the police back in the limelight.
This is not surprising because peace and order is an important public concern and considering the previous lull in the rush of petty crime incidents and major robberies.
It was like a false sense of security did not prepare Cebuanos for this.
Blame
To be fair, blame could not be attributed solely on the failings of the police if one considers the dynamics of law enforcement and criminality at any given time.
Robbers for example, whether small-time or big-time, have the advantage of choosing the time and the place to strike even as police units lack enough personnel to be effective.
This is aside from corruption that has hampered law enforcement especially involving pervasive illegal activities like drug trafficking, which has links to other crimes.
Street gangs
Many people believe, for example, that the criminal acts of some members of gangs like Crips and Bloods can be rooted in the proliferation of illegal drugs and unlicensed guns.
That is why the announcement of the Cebu City Police Office that it would dismantle street gangs, though good in the short term, does sound inadequate in the long term.
Street gangs and their criminal activities could not be dissociated from other law enforcement concerns.
Major heists
As for curbing major robbery incidents, past experience has shown that, aside from vigilance and ironing out kinks in Oplan Universe, identifying the culprits of big heists and arresting them can be effective.
An example: The lull in incidents of bank robberies in Cebu and neighboring Bohol province can be partly attributed to the “neutralization” of the Meloy Garcia gang.
The hope, then, is that the Lapu-Lapu robbery perpetrators, who used high-powered firearms and are therefore doubly dangerous, will be identified and eventually nabbed.
