Can P50T influence cops?

Police Regional Office 7 spokesperson Reynan Tolentin is doing an intricate balancing act in reacting to the P50,000 legal assistance that Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña dangled to law enforcers who kill a criminal in the line of duty. While he lauded Osmeña’s move, he also assured that policemen won’t kill suspects just to be able to avail themselves of the financial assistance.

Tolentin’s statement recognizes two conflicting points of the mayor’s scheme. One, that the assistance is a recognition that policemen facing cases in court are almost always in need of financial help. Two, that it also could lead policemen into dangerous territory akin to the Wild West and they would act like bounty hunters.

If the scheme is taken as a mere legal assistance for cops facing cases in court, then it is laudable. But Osmeña did not stop there, and this is where his true intention for hatching the scheme shows. Why give the financial help only to policemen who are in legal trouble for killing suspected criminals? Why not give it to all cops being charged for acts done in the line of duty, whether the suspects are killed or not?

The focus on the killing part is what makes the mayor’s scheme suspicious. It could also lead us to believe that all the other aspects of the scheme—that it is just legal assistance and not a reward and that the killing should be done in the line of duty--are mere sugar-coating. It seems like it is intended more to encourage the killing of suspects instead of arresting them and less to help policemen who are in a legal bind.

Which makes Tolentin’s statement reassuring. While he said that Osmeña’s scheme is morale-boosting, he also restated the mandate of the police, which is to serve and protect life. “We enforce the law with due observance of it and we act accordingly,” he added.

While we could not say that what Tolentin said is also the stance of the rank-and-file, especially at the Cebu City Police Office, we take our cue from the conduct of the cops in the region in their implementation of the war against illegal drugs. If they refused to be harsh in the war ordered by the commander-in-chief, would they be different with the P50,000 the mayor dangled?