A job well done

Cebu City Police Office Director Senior Superintendent Joel Doria is one of the recipients of the Metrobank award, which recognizes the outstanding achievements of some individuals in different fields of endeavor.

The recognition was given on account of Doria's intensified campaign against all forms of criminality -especially in the crusade against the illegal drug trade which the Duterte administration is busily battling.

The Cebu City residents and the local government can only feel proud of the fact that the efforts of the city's top cop and his entire police force in preserving the city's peace and order did not escape the eyes of such a respectable institution.

But while the award validates the local police's honest-to-goodness drive against crimes, it should not be made as proof that their campaign is heading in the right direction. Success cannot just be measured by the dozens of accolades hanging on the wall.

What should certainly count here is the ability to sustain the momentum in order for the campaign to be more effective. And such ability entails more than just the need to pin down those criminals. It should also include measures that would reform them.

Of course, there's no question that the Metrobank recognition can always serve as a motivating factor for a successful campaign against criminality. It should inspire and encourage the city police force to heighten its crusade.

We commend Doria and his policemen for a job well done. He has been one of the best directors ever to head the city police force as far as the CCPO's anti-criminality crusade is concerned. He really deserves to be recognized.

However, we do hope the all-out campaign does not die a natural death the moment Doria leaves the city. Its real success should not depend upon how many criminals are arrested or killed during his tenure here but upon how it is being sustained.