Tainted

Carjacking has become an even more grisly crime these days, bringing fear to the hearts of all motorists. People lose not only their cars but their lives as well.

Emerson Lozano tried to sell a rather ordinary car and ended up dead. Venson Evangelista, too, was peddling an SUV. His remains were found Tuesday, charred beyond recognition and apparently tortured before he was shot. Another car seller in Bulacan brought her two children on a test drive with people posing as buyers. They were gagged and their vehicle driven off. Fortunately, their lives were spared.

It has become such that peddling a car these days seems a death-defying chore.

Investigators indicate they have strong leads, at least as far as the Lozano case is concerned. We desperately hope so. We all want this terrifying scourge to end.

When we finally have the brutes responsible for this spate of heinous crimes in cuffs, let’s hope they are not policemen moonlighting in carjacking.

The police force does not need additional taint. We, common citizens, desperately want to believe in our police.

The last few weeks have not been particularly flattering for the PNP. Its prestige has been seriously diminished. Public faith in the reliability of our police force is seriously shaken.

Sometimes it seems parallel universes have collided. The crime-busters have become criminals. The criminals don the uniform to put in the usual working day.

To be fair, the present police leadership is exerting impressive effort to rid its ranks of scalawags in uniform. The internal affairs mechanisms are in high gear. The National Police Commission is pressing hard.

Last week, the police organization dismissed with prejudice the notorious Inspector Joselito Binayug — caught on video torturing a suspect. The torture victim was eventually found dead. A more serious crime needs to be resolved.

A whole brigade of erring policemen are now detained and facing investigation. PO3 Bayani Mercado and PO3 Elmer Arrogancia, both assigned to the Region 4-A police are charged with murder, possession of illegal drugs and firearms. PO2 Roger Bacanto, PO1 Jayjay Valiente, PO1 Venancio Jayoma and PO3 Celedonio Tipon of the Caloocan police are charged with kidnapping-for-ransom.

Chief Inspector Edwin Faycho, PO2 Edmund Faculdar and two others are charged with kidnapping with murder, attempted kidnapping, frustrated murder and carnapping with intimidation. The Faycho group has been disarmed and restricted to quarters while the preliminary investigation is in progress.

PNP Director-General Raul Bacalzo is coming down hard on erring policemen. He is under severe public pressure to do so. With the support of the National Police Commission, the police chief has committed to achieving a zero-backlog in the cases filed against goons in uniform.

Over the last few weeks, the PNP chief has enforced a one-strike policy against police officers found unable to stamp out illegal gambling in their localities. Several police officers have been sacked in the course of this campaign.

More than just filing cases against police officers found to have erred, Bacalzo has adopted a more pro-active, more comprehensive response to the apparent erosion of discipline and competence in the police force. He has initiated a general re-training of the police force, focused on immediately upgrading the organization’s investigative capacity.

A recent report showed that police investigators lack sufficient training in what they do. Consequently, many criminal cases filed lead to acquittal.

While undertaking the general cleanup of the police force, Bacalzo is proposing reforms in the PNP’s recruitment system. At present, the recruitment process tests only for physical fitness. The police chief wants a more rigorous psychological test administered to potential recruits. This will help, he believes, in screening out the bad eggs from even gaining access to the ranks of law-enforcement.

In the relatively short period left before he, too, retires from the service, Bacalzo wants the internal affairs mechanisms of the police force strengthened. That will guarantee immediate disciplinary action against erring officers. He wants a highly-motivated and highly-skilled force capable of assuring our citizens that public order will be safeguarded. A more effective internal affairs mechanism is the only check against police abuses.

Nothing distresses the public more than the perception that we all need protection from policemen.

We have everything at stake in the reforms Bacalzo promises. It will not be easy reforming a police organization that is overstretched as it stands.

The 135,000-strong PNP is seriously undermanned. We have among the lowest ratios of police officers per capita in the world.

Our police force is not only undermanned. The organization suffers from a serious lack of resources. The PNP relies on the generosity of local governments to put together patrol cars and even armaments necessary for the law enforcers to be effective.

For as long as the police force appears undisciplined, incompetent and polluted with scalawags, the public will be reluctant to allocate a larger share of our already scarce national budget to law enforcement. Although pressed to do more with less, the PNP must nevertheless undertake the urgent reforms as quickly as possible to recover public esteem.

Bacalzo’s mission is unenviable. He must clean up an organization that seems to have fallen into the deep end. At the same time, with its meager resources, the PNP must deliver quickly and close what now seems to be a yawning public order gap.

The police chief has impressive credentials and a respectable record of service. But he is on a mission where failure is totally unacceptable. He has our best hopes to overcome what might appear to be a daunting challenge.