FILIPINOS didn’t know what “person of interest” meant other than the term’s literal meaning, a person who interests or is interesting to law enforcers.
Not until the local police used the term in the high-profile Ashley Abad case. A 19-year-old coed collapsed at a pre-Sinulog concert at Ayala Business Park in Cebu City last Jan. 19, probably because of a party drug she took, and died the following day in a hospital.
Police regional chief Debold Sinas last Jan. 23 tagged the boyfriend of the high school senior as “person of interest.” He could be the person who knew who gave tablets called “Ecstasy” to her.
The American drama “Person of Interest” ran on TV as a CBS series from 2011 to 2016 but earlier than that US police had been using the term. Soon enough, their fellow cops in the Philippines followed suit.
Probable cause
How does person of interest differ from suspect?
A person of interest is one who the police think might have been involved in a crime but is not yet arrested because they don’t have “probable cause” that he committed it. Once they have enough evidence of probable cause, that’s when he is considered a suspect who then may be arrested any time.
On the Abad case, the police may not have hard evidence on which to pin the boyfriend. They must have heard he supplied the drug or knew who did, apparently from mutual friends of the couple, who must have also heard about it from others.
Police motives
By questioning the b.f., did police expect he would confess? Maybe. In publicly calling him a person of interest, the police must hope:
* The b.f. would at least give enough details to incriminate himself or lead to another possible culprit;
* Make him believe he is not the prime suspect and police are targeting someone else, for the b.f. to cooperate and give information.
Ruined reputation
Critics in the US are concerned that “innocent people will be tainted by being labeled persons of interest.”In the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta in 1996, security guard Richard Jewell won hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlement after he was cleared. All throughout the investigation, police called him a person of interest, which Jewell said forever ruined his reputation ,
That’s not going to happen here, not the award for damages. The word “suspect” is freely and carelessly used in this country and people would not sue when they are later declared innocent and other suspects are charged.
We may even appreciate that General Sinas or his officials did not brand the b.f. as a suspect. That shows respect for his rights by being careful with the labels.
Contradiction
One sees the contradiction though in the police use of “person of interest.”
If the police don’t have evidence of probable cause yet against the b.f., then he cannot be a suspect. Why then should his reported refusal to submit to police questioning make him one? Keeping silent must not be the evidence that constitutes probable cause.
Source, billing
It may be seen as a threat. Something like, “we the police don’t have evidence to consider you a suspect but you’re not cooperating, so now presto we have the evidence.”
They could throw the book at the b.f.--if indeed he had something to do with Ashley’s death.
Tough but tougher would be to trace the source of the party drugs, which apparently have not been given as much attention and energy by the police because of the focus on the cheaper, more common variety: marijuana and shabu. “Ecstasy” should now get wider billing.