BODY CAMS ON COPS DURING ANTIDRUG OPERATIONS

Extrajudicial killings or EJKs have become a hallmark of the Duterte presidency. Around 5,000 (and counting) drug suspects have been killed so far in Mr. Duterte’s drug war, with the police accounting for around 2,000 or 40 percent of the killings. This is more than the 3,000-odd killings during the martial law years under President Marcos.

In police killings, there are invariably two versions—one from the police, the other from the victim’s relatives and friends. And these versions usually are contradictory.

The police version usually claims that the drug suspect resisted arrest, while the relatives’ version alleges that the victim was killed in cold blood. The killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. is a classic example.

The conflicting versions could be easily solved if policemen were required to wear body cameras during drug operations. The cameras would record exactly what would happen during an operation.

Police in several countries are required to wear body cams during operations. A University of Cambridge study on the Rialto police in California found that complaints against police were reduced by 87 percent when they were made to wear body cams. A 12-month study by Ariel, Farrar and Sutherland, published November 2014 in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology, revealed a 90-percent drop in complaints against police wearing body cams. Police in many parts of the United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Australia, Scotland and other countries don body cams because of the favorable results from wearing these devices. The United States has a plan to authorize the use of $75 million for the purchase of 50,000 body cams in three years. And Aberdeen Scotland claims that the use of body cams has saved the nation the equivalent of P25.20 million a year (£400,000).

The cost of body cams—around P30,000 each—may seem prohibitive. But the cost of human life is worth much more than that. Savings could actually result, as the Aberdeen experience has shown. Also, body cams will be required only when police are in drug operations, and so the number to be purchased would not be so many. With police wearing body cams, the number of extrajudicial killings by cops will drastically go down, since the police will hew more to the rules of engagement if they know their every action is recorded.

So, how about it, Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa and President Duterte?