EDITORIAL - Narco cops

Since launching his war on drugs, President Duterte has been after ranking officers of the Philippine National Police who are being linked to the illegal trade. He has publicly identified some of the PNP officers, one of whom has retired and entered politics, but guilt has yet to be established by the slow-moving courts.

Police connivance, however, has long played a key role in the persistence of the drug menace. Drug money can be irresistible, especially for law enforcers with modest pay. The President himself has lamented that drug money has corrupted the PNP, and he has since given up setting a deadline for eradicating the drug menace.

Considering that people have been getting high on opium and other mood-enhancing or mind-altering drugs for centuries, the best that governments can do – realistically, without annihilating all drug users – is to be relentless in the campaign against the traffickers while at the same time strengthening social programs to rehabilitate drug abusers and discourage the habit.

There can be no letup in the purge of corrupt law enforcers involved in the illegal drug trade. Tighter police recruitment processes will help, although drug protection rackets are not confined to rookie police officers. Even cops with years of honest performance can be lured by drug money as they approach retirement.

While government pay can never match the profits from the illegal drug trade, reasonable pay combined with the certainty of being caught and prosecuted can help purge law enforcement agencies of undesirable elements.

Drug money can be irresistible. What governments can do is send a convincing message that those who engage in the illegal trade face the certainty of punishment. The first to get the message clearly must be those who are tasked to enforce the law.