EDITORIAL - Fatal mistaken identity

The latest blunder involving the police resulted in the death of a teenager mistaken for a criminal in Navotas City recently.

According to reports, policemen were pursuing an armed suspect who shot someone in Barangay NBBS Kaunlaran at around 2:45 p.m. last August 2 and received a report that he was hiding in a boat.

In the same boat, 17-year-old Jemboy Baltazar, who was preparing to fish with a friend, panicked at the sight of armed men dressed in civilian attire and jumped into the water.

The policemen fired “warning shots” into the water, allegedly killing Baltazar.

Even the police organization has admitted there were lapses committed during the incident and have detained and charged six Navotas policemen over what happened.

“The act of firing the shot exhibited lapses in proper judgment,” an online report quoted Navotas city police chief Col. Allan Umipig as saying.

We laud the zeal of policemen when it came to their pursuit of the shooting suspect. However, the way they dealt with the situation and confronted who they thought was their man is condemnable.

This shows that even as there are policemen out there who know how to properly respond to a situation requiring police action, there are also others who don’t. But because the names of the policemen involved haven’t been made public, we aren’t sure if they were only rookies who didn’t know what to do or veterans who don’t give a damn about procedure.

When policemen make mistakes the results are usually grave. Either someone who is supposed to be arrested goes free or someone innocent ends up injured if he is lucky, or dead if he isn’t.

Needless to say, a review of how policemen conduct operations is needed. Especially as the PNP said that as per police operational procedures, service firearms must only be used for self-defense or to defend others.

Based on the reports about the incident, Baltazar didn’t pose a visible threat to them at the time.

It’s sad to say that this latest incident will be another black eye to the police force. They have a lot to do to clean up this latest stain.