CAN the police solve the high-profile killings that happened the past several months in Cebu province? Gov. Hilario Davide III’s pessimism should be grating to the ears of police officials as that of City Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s allegation that the police are involved in the killings.
In a way, Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Debold Sinas has his work cut out for him. That both the local government executives of the city and the province do not seem to have confidence in the capability and sincerity of the police in doing their law enforcement tasks is not good.
The ideal setup is for the local government executives to have confidence in the police force and at least have a cordial relationship with the police chiefs. While the law does not countenance the police force being under the control of local chief executives, it envisions cooperation of some sorts. Having a strained relationship or, worse, local chief executives and the police force working at cross-purposes is certainly not what the framers of the law envisioned.
Part of the problem there is the seeming lack of an open communication line between the concerned local chief executives and police officials. While it would have been good if Davide and Osmeña expressed their lack of confidence or displeasure with the police in a closed-door talk with concerned police officials, that did not happen. Sinas, as PRO 7 chief, may have to open the communication lines with the local government executives himself.
Between Osmeña and Davide, the latter has the lesser complaint. Davide may have been affected more by the lack of movement in the police investigation into the killing of Ronda mayor Mariano Blanco III, an ally and a friend. Police officials may just have to discuss with the governor updates of their investigation on Blanco’s killing and the probes conducted in the other murder cases.
Solving crimes and maintaining the peace can only be effective if all of the officials concerned provided the correct environment for law enforcement to flourish.