Body cameras to deter drug recycling – Law maker

MANILA, Philippines — Recycling of seized illegal drugs can be avoided if anti-narcotics agents are required to wear body cameras during operations, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers suggested yesterday.

“The use of body cameras should be institutionalized because it’s not in the law yet. We are going to make sure that this will become the SOP (standard operating procedure) – from apprehension to inventory,” Barbers said.

Barbers chairs the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs.

He said he would push for the use of body cameras to prevent agents of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and National Bureau of Investigation from being tempted to recycle shabu and other banned drugs.

Barbers said the PNP has acquired about 20,000 body cameras.

“That’s not enough. The PNP needs at least 90,000 body cameras while the PDEA needs around 5,000,” he said in an interview on “The Chiefs” on Cignal/TV’s One News on Wednesday night.

“We will propose a bill to institutionalize what we call the Drug Courts. There has to be a specific prosecution of these drug cases. Otherwise, there’s always a tendency that these contraband will go back to the streets,” Barbers said.

He said the presence of barangay officials and media workers in anti-narcotics operations have not been effective in thwarting police scalawags.

“But I believe that only fewer rogue police officers are behind the recycling of about 30 to 70 percent of drug haul by the PNP,” Barbers said.

He said he would also propose an overhaul of the inventory of drugs, from the time these were confiscated until delivery to the storage room where the evidence is kept during trial in court.

“There were instances in the past that pilferage was committed in the storage room. We need to immediately destroy seized drugs. In other countries, they use incinerators,” Barbers said.