Don’t be cops: dad to sons

At 55 and with 30 years of police experience, police officer said that being a policeman is not all praises and awards such as what he got as a pioneering Special Weapons and Tactics team leader.

While some police officers encourage their children to join the organization, Chief Insp. Sandley Sabang wants his three sons to pursue other careers.

At 55 and with 30 years of police experience under his belt, Sabang said that being a policeman is not all praises and awards such as what he got as a pioneering Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team leader.

“I responded once to an armed person alarm. When the team saw that the accused was only a harmless and drunk elderly, we were the ones who asked the caller to let him go,” Sabang told SunStar Cebu.

At dawn, they were awaken by a telephone call from the Mabolo Police telling them that the elderly had accused them of creating a hole in his makeshift quarters using an M16.

“Nahugno ko ato. Gibutang-butangan mig sala nga wala namo gihimo. Ang akong mga tawo sa among team miingon na nga among balikon pero miana ko nila ayaw sa pero na low morale na mi (We were accused of something we didn’t know. I told my men we let it go),” Sabang said.

Sabang forgot about the issue and went home to his three sons.

“Ayaw mo pag pulis (don’t be police officers),” he told them.

The police official rose from the ranks as a graduate of 1987 batch of the Integrated Nation- al Police (INP). He was then absorbed into the Philippine National Police in 1991 as a police officer 3.

His sons, the eldest of whom now works as a web developer, the second as a doctor and the youngest having just finished mechanical engineering, grew up under his and his late wife’s guidance.

“I don’t believe that the environment molds a person. Me and my brother once lived in the slums of Barrio Luz where some of the lawless elements lurked, but we didn’t become like them,” Sabang said.

As an advice to future police officers who started from the bottom, Sabang said they must analyze the situation thoroughly before reacting.

“I can proudly say that my team, in all those years that I served in the Swat, hadn’t fired a shot in any hostage taking situations. You have to have patience and don’t pull that trigger unless it’s necessary,” Sabang said.

He said that he was the one who held his team back when they wanted to shoot.

“The most fulfilling thing is that the complainant will be satisfied with the duty that we upheld and that no one gets hurt, no one gets shot,” he said.