EDITORIAL - Cops who can't shoot straight

Nearly 90 percent of the 125,000 members of the Philippine National Police failed a firearms proficiency test, according to the National Police Commission. That story would be laughable if it didn’t have dire consequences for law enforcement.

Cops who can’t shoot straight lose out to crooks who can. Cops who can’t shoot straight end up shooting dead both hostage taker and the hostage. Cops who can’t hit their targets end up hitting innocent civilians instead, as in the case of the policemen who shot and killed an overseas Filipino worker on vacation in Manila together with his daughter. Father and daughter had the misfortune of getting in the way of a running gun battle between cops and a gang of suspected criminals in southern Metro Manila. Those cops, who were legitimately pursuing suspected crooks, would have been spared from an ongoing investigation and their possible expulsion from the police force if they could use their firearms properly.

The reason for the poor proficiency in marksmanship in most cases is not due to stupidity or fear of guns, but logistical problems. The starting pay of cops is barely above the minimum wage, and studies have shown that there are PNP members living below the poverty line. Cops can practice marksmanship only if they have the ammunition for it. But the PNP ammo allocation per cop is sufficient chiefly for use when needed. Those who want to improve their shooting skills can do so only if they obtain their own ammunition. And bullets – even reloads – do not come cheap.

PNP members who serve as politicians’ aides or bodyguards are usually the ones who manage to practice their marksmanship regularly. As informal members of virtual private armies, their skills are on tap not for the general public but for their political patrons. Other PNP members must make do with what they have, until the government decides to invest in upgrading the skills and equipment of law enforcers.