The case of Jade Castro

Those who have been paying attention to the case of Jade Castro, the film director who was arrested with several of his companions after being accused of setting fire to a modern Public Utility Jeepney in Catanauan, Quezon, last January 31, should know that he has been released.

In fact, the tables have been turned and now the policemen who arrested him are facing administrative charges before the PNP Regional Internal Affairs Service, and Castro himself is qualified to apply for compensation for his arrest and unjust detention. He even has the option to counter-sue.

But even with the PNP-RIAS filing charges against some policemen, the PNP's Regional Office Region 4-A said it will re-file destructive arson charges against Castro and his colleagues.

Is this a case of defective instead of detective police work? Did investigators get into a sort of “tunnel vision” as some claim; when they focus on just one suspect instead of checking on other leads? Did they just settle on the first person they came across and looked only at the things that would prove him guilty instead of the things that would prove him innocent?

Castro said he experienced an epiphany in jail. He said that many people there did not deserve to be there or were unjustly accused.

In an interview over ANC, Castro said he knew people who could advise him what to do after he felt he had unjustly been accused, arrested without a warrant, and detained. However, this was not the situation for everyone. He called attention to those like him who were unjustly accused but, unlike him, don’t know whom to turn to.

So, indeed, what about those who aren’t as prominent as Castro? What about those who don’t have or know people who can advise them what to do when that happens to them? Or those who have no influence whatsoever?

What happens to them as a result of defective rather than detective police work? Is there a way of preventing this from happening again?