Thursday, May 29, 2008 Editorials: Unique reward system
ONE can't blame Mayor Tomas Osmeña for his concern about crime syndicates targeting Cebu City for its operations considering the recent P13 million pawnshop heist.
The robbers were, aside from being well-armed, were well-funded.
But concerns, especially involving law enforcement issues, should not lead to actions comparable to a pendulum swing to the other extreme, like resorting to drastic measures.
An example: Concerns over the peace and order breakdown a few years ago, as shown by the rise in the number of petty crime incidents, led to summary executions of supposed robbers.
Consistent
While vigilante-style killing was not officially adopted by the Cebu City Government as a policy for obvious reasons, Osmeña left no doubt that he was inspiring it.
In a way, the mayor was therefore just being consistent when, in reaction to the pawnshop heist, he announced the offer of cash rewards for off-duty cops who can arrest or kill robbers.
The giving of rewards as part of an effective manhunt strategy is not new; what is unique in the city's reward system is the prize breakdown that encourages abuse.
Intention
No problem with the P10,000 reward for those who can identify robbers.
But here's the catch: if an off-duty policeman arrests a robber, he will get only P20,000 while killing him results in a P50,000 bounty, which may have exposed intent.
Even in the old West, bounty was the same, whether the target was “dead or alive.”
The mayor, of course, could have been less forthright like the other bounty givers even if they also would probably have preferred objects of the hunt dead rather than alive.
But that won't be in keeping with his temperament.
Justification
Besides, dissatisfaction of many people with due process and the criminal justice system has made the ideology of summary execution popular among Cebuanos.
That, though, is not justification enough for more level-headed government officials to encourage more the execution of suspected criminals and less their capture.
