Pubdate: Mon, 28 Jun 2004
Source: Sunstar Davao (Philippines)
Copyright: 2004 Sunstar
Contact:  http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1991
Note:  also listed for feedback
Author: Ram Maxey
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

MAXEY: COPS ASTRAY

'It is saddening how so many really good, efficient and dedicated officers 
and men of the PNP have to bear the brunt of public outrage as a result of 
their few misguided "bros" who stray from the straight and narrow path of 
virtue.'

I WAS watching a television documentary late the other night where a 
uniformed policeman on duty somewhere in Metro Manila was seen on hidden 
camera indulging himself in the illegal drug shabu. What I saw shocked me. 
Imagine a policeman in uniform doing his thing with a prohibited drug 
inside a police station? That was a terrific scoop by the television show's 
host.

That televised episode eventually was shown to Philippine National Police 
chief Hermogenes Ebdane who was so stunned that he ordered the erring cop 
and his immediate superior who apparently coddled him investigated. If 
investigation shows that the policeman in question has been into drugs, he 
will face not only administrative sanction (dismissal) but also criminal 
charges for violation of the anti-illegal drugs law.

In an interview, Ebdane sought to allay fears that the incident was 
symptomatic of the PNP force in general.

While admitting that some members of the PNP could be involved in drugs, as 
users and/or pushers, they are an exception to the rule, he says.

Ebdane said that of the PNP's 120,000 members, there are probably only 0.01 
or 0.02 percent involved in illegal drugs. That translates to 1,200 to 
2,400 possible suspects. To subject all 120,000 policemen to drug tests at 
P300 per individual would eat up 36 million pesos of the PNP's budget, an 
amount it cannot afford.

Ebdane said that it would be more practical subjecting to drug tests only 
those policemen who are suspected of being into illegal drugs. Be that as 
it may, 1,200 to 2,400 policemen into drugs are unacceptable.

Ordinary drug users/pushers themselves already constitute a scourge to 
society considering that an estimated 3.4 million Filipinos are into the 
vice. But for a man of the law who wears a uniform and badge of authority, 
not the least being authorized to carry a gun, to indulge in the vice is 
another matter. It stands to reason that it will really prove more 
difficult to catch, much less convict, a policeman who has turned into a 
criminal than all the other ordinary criminals.

If police chief Ebdane believes that 1,200 to 2,400 policemen - out of 
120,000 - who are into illegal drugs constitute only a drop in the bucket, 
that's still too many rogues in uniform for this nation's comfort.

And that's only about illegal drugs, mind you. How about the other types of 
crimes? It is saddening how so many really good, efficient and dedicated 
officers and men of the PNP have to bear the brunt of public outrage as a 
result of their few misguided "bros" who stray from the straight and narrow 
path of virtue.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager