Can body cameras lick EJKs?

President Rodrigo Duterte raised the idea of arming each policeman with a body camera. Ironically, the body camera will be for the purpose of protecting policemen from possible allegations and complaints of harassment and other counter-suits by suspects they apprehend. The idea should be to protect us all law-abiding citizens from scalawag cops and other bad egg elements in our country’s police force.

Amid the unrestrained cases of alleged extra-judicial killings by unknown elements of the police force, the planned procurement of this additional police gadget came out as one of the proposed measures to strengthen President Duterte’s war against illegal drugs. Hamstrung by alleged extra-judicial killings (EJKs) and violations of the rights of suspects to due process of law, the provision of body camera to policemen is seen as an effective remedial measure to restore public trust to President Duterte’s on-going war against illegal drugs.

This is because the body camera will be able to record actual events taking place where the policemen are conducting their anti-crime operations.

With members of his Cabinet security cluster present, President Duterte grudgingly announced the suspension of “Operation: Tokhang” of the PNP. The decision was reached at the end of the President’s meeting with his top security officials and advisers at Malacanang Palace the other night. With more than 7,000 suspects killed to date, both President Duterte and Philippine National Police (PNP) director-general Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa have been under fire here and abroad over many of these reported and unsolved EJKs.

President Duterte admitted the procurement of body camera for the 165,000 uniformed PNP personnel will cost money. We, as taxpayers, will shoulder this additional police gadget if only to secure our own safety from the bad eggs, or scalawags in the police force.

When they first assumed office in June last year, both President Duterte and Dela Rosa were already being scored for the rising incidents of drug suspects being killed and dumped with placards on their body identifying them as “drug addicts.” However, the President and the PNP chief were one in saying such dastardly acts were not being done by policemen but by rogue cops and those other drug lords out to discredit “Tokhang.”

At that time Dela Rosa frowned on the procurement of body camera for policemen amid criticisms over Tokhang, citing it is a waste of funds. The PNP chief pointed to procurement of guns and bullets as the more priority items for policemen than body cameras. Will Bato now change tunes?

No less than his Commander-in-chief wants such gadget to carry out his anti-illegal drugs war until the end of his term in June 2022. Actually, before President Duterte made his off-the-cuff ideas, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Director Oscar Albayalde disclosed the Quezon City government is set to provide body camera for their policemen. Albayalde told us about this when the NCRPO chief was our guest during our Kapihan sa Manila Bay last Jan. 4.

Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Chief  Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar subsequently confirmed this saying he is, in fact, looking forward to receive from the QC government at least 800 units of body cameras for the first quarter of this year.

The P30-million acquisition of the body cameras will be funded out of the P200-million budget allocated for the modernization of the police communication and command centers around the city. The QC government, headed by Mayor Herbert Bautista, vowed to support the QCPD equipment modernization project.

If this materializes, Eleazar cited, Quezon City will be the first local government unit in the country which has promised to shoulder the expenses for the acquisition of body cameras for the local police force.

The QCPD chief earlier disclosed the provision of body camera for QC cops was one of the items in the “wish list” they submitted in December last year to Mayor Bautista. Although he is not privy to the details of the project, Eleazar said they have already crafted the terms of reference for the acquisition of the body cameras as well as the communication systems for the QCPD tactical operations centers.

The public bidding is expected to start soon. Once acquired, the new equipment will be installed in the district headquarters at Camp Karingal in Quezon City and the 12 police stations around the city. The city government has also reportedly allotted P12 million to establish an Anti-Cybercrime satellite office in the QCPD, the unit Eleazar previously headed prior to his appointment as QCPD chief.

The bonanza of equipment support to QCPD will redeem Mayor Bautista before the eyes of his local police force. In November last year, Mayor Bautista vetoed an ordinance which requires the installation of dashboard cameras in all mobile patrol units of the QCPD. In his veto letter, Mayor Bautista noted the proposed city ordinance “failed to prescribe the minimum standards or specifications” for dashboard cameras and also failed to comply with the Data Privacy Act of 2012.

In the meantime, President Duterte could only echo his wishes to procure body cameras for all policemen, in a press conference. The Commander-in-chief failed to go into details on how soon he would be able to implement this remedial measure.

It was yet another hour-long press conference that went on until the wee hours. But the 72-year-old President Duterte was still obviously highly charged. Punctuated by his usual ranting against human rights groups and other critics of his administration’s war against illegal drugs, President Duterte even challenged media/television networks to tag along anti-drug operations of the PNP even as suspects might be armed and dangerous.

If it is the only way to prove critics wrong, the President pointed out, media can join police raids to record on TV camera the actual encounters of police, especially when suspects resist arrest and fight it out with the police raiders. Actually, some of the more bold and daring TV network reporters have tagged along police raids against suspected drug dealers. But none so far ever came across any EJKs.

So can TV or body cameras really lick the problem of EJKs?