EDITORIAL — Tough job ahead

A new man took over the helm of the Philippine National Police yesterday, and he has a tough job ahead. Deputy Director General Oscar Calderon will oversee the return of the PNP to counterinsurgency functions. He is taking over the PNP at a time when militant activists, journalists and even town mayors and other government officials are being gunned down with impunity all over the country. Loose firearms proliferate, from cheap handguns made in Danao to the MP5 submachine guns used to assassinate Ilagan Mayor Delfinito Albano.

At the same time, Calderon will have to sustain the campaign against the unending scourges of kidnapping, carjacking, drug trafficking, and all the other problems that make life unsafe in this country.

He will have to do this in an organization that needs continuing housecleaning. There are still too many rotten eggs in the PNP — cops who have become shakedown artists, coddlers of gambling lords and drug dealers, even the actual heads of organized crime rings.

The PNP also needs better training in criminal investigation and the legal aspects of law enforcement. Too many cops know little about scientific criminal investigation or even about conducting searches or making arrests. Those lapses have led to the dismissal on technicalities of cases against even some of the most notorious crime bosses. Poor training and legal background have also led some cops to resort to extrajudicial methods of maintaining peace and order. Those methods have no place in a democracy and must be expunged from the PNP’s system.

These reforms must be undertaken within the limited resources of the national police. The PNP is undermanned, and low-ranking cops get by on salaries that are barely above the minimum wage. The police crime laboratory has undergone major improvements but can still use more. The PNP lacks patrol cars and motorcycles. Not all cops have service firearms. Many of those who have guns lack ammunition for regular practice in marksmanship. Calderon faces a major challenge, including lingering public distrust of the police force.