Editorial - Amateurs

In the annals of crime, this one was amateur hour: two men in a borrowed Mitsubishi Adventure try to steal a spare tire from a Ford Ranger parked inside a shopping mall. The owner of the Ranger, however, sees the theft and alerts a mall security guard, who goes after the thieves. One of the thieves fires at the guard but misses. The guard shoots back and hits the tires of the suspects’ getaway vehicle.

With the tires deflating, the suspects drive away but bump into another vehicle several blocks away from the mall, and are forced to abandon the Adventure – at a spot within range of a closed circuit TV camera. In the rush to escape, one of the suspects forgets his driver’s license in the vehicle, plus the stolen spare tire. So police investigators have an easy time tracking down the owner of the license, Richard Fontanilla, who leads the cops to the second suspect, Nomer Pacheco. 

The public shouldn’t be too worried if all thieves were as incompetent as these two men. What is troubling, however, is that the suspects were armed, and they readily used the weapon in a crowded mall. Equally troubling is that Pacheco is a former police officer 2 who went AWOL in 2006.

How many other rogue cops are out there, leading or abetting civilians in armed felonies? In recent days there has been a spate of armed robberies, in shopping malls and at a Western Union branch in Parañaque. The suspects in the Western Union case eluded arrest during a raid on their lairs in Upper Bicutan and Maharlika Village in Taguig. They are sure to strike again.

President Aquino has reportedly expressed concern about the rash of crimes against property. Regardless of the amount taken, lives and property must be secured from criminals. It should be a cause for alarm that even crooks described as penny ante by police officials have easy access to firearms. Whether amateur or professional, crooks must be caught and crimes must be prevented.