Who do you call when the Police murders?
Maturity. Resilience. Brave.
We all know that as time passes by, police brutality is becoming more and more evident. There is a lot of news locally or globally indicating how most policemen and women are using their power. But how did this happen? First, we need to define what being a policeman is and what is their duty? We know that it is a righteous job, and they enforce justice. It is a type of job where they are given power, making them superior to ordinary people. They have to protect the people and maintain order. It is a given that they must be honest, and they won’t do anything immoral or unfitting of someone who is known as the justice.
By having more power and having the back of the president, there are improvements and good things that happened, but there are those who abused their power, there are those who committed a crime in the dark, and those who can’t cover or hide what they had done. Police officers who abuse their power are increasing lately, as seen on the news and indifferent articles. It resulted in making the people doubtful of the police and anxious if they can be protected.
One of the significant factors of the increasing cases of police violence or police brutality is the national law enforcement project, Oplan Tokhang. We’ve all heard about it, so we are pretty familiar with it. According to Rappler, the Oplan Tokhang is a campaign to warn drug traffickers and users to stop using drugs. However, even though Oplan Tokhang is a campaign to stop the illegal drug trade in our country, it became the way for most police officers to abuse their power. A total of 2,555 deaths during the war on drugs was imputed to the National Police. In addition to that, the Human Rights Watch research has found that many police officers are fabricating evidence to justify the unlawful killings. Those facts itself show how the policemen are two-faced and are blinded easily by their power. Can we trust law enforcement despite the unlawful killings during the war on drugs? Take note that those killings are only based on their project, Oplan Tokhang, meaning to say there are still more cases of police brutality that are out there and are not included in the 2,555 recorded killings.
Police brutality is becoming a national issue. Based on the previous points, we can’t deny the fact that they have the power and the privilege to take out the life of someone innocent quickly or not. Aside from the casualties during their War on Drugs, another example of how they exercise their abusive authority is when a policeman shot an innocent mother and her son because of a small argument. It became viral on social media. YouTube removed it due to the violent content that many children can watch what the police did to the Mother and Son. Being a policeman is difficult. You have to sacrifice your life for a tragedy you will experience because of people who have evil deeds that will ruin their lives. The most important thing to remember is that: the obligation of the state authorities, including the police, to respect and protect the right to life and not kill innocent people.
To eliminate all lawbreakers and no more innocent people die due to police and security guards’ strength. I think they need better training in what to do in a situation involving a gun, knife, or a suspect not following them. Police officers need to undergo more psychological training to teach them not to be biased towards Filipinos.
They need to build a relationship with the community without the use of their power. Police should be held responsible as any other person in the country for committing murder or shooting someone. They should not be above the law. Our government needs to start this process of recovery before it is too late. Because if we wait too long, it will be an endless battle of the people compared to the police. That something we do not want or need to go through; because it will result in more deaths.
So what can we do amidst such issues about our security? First and foremost, we must know our rights so that the police can’t use their power against us. There are many websites or posts online about our rights when a police officer approaches us. Secondly, never tolerate such injustice when we see one. Staying silent means that you agree with such unlawful acts. Lastly, using our voice to change a broken judiciary system that sides with the privileged. So let us come together and hold the police officers accountable for their actions and get closure on Filipinos’ deaths. Furthermore, we should use our votes for those we think will change our society and our political system. It entirely depends on us whether police brutality cases will increase or decrease for the upcoming years. It all depends on who we are going to vote for in the forthcoming elections. Our country’s security is at stake. Help put an end to police brutality.
One way we can hold the police officers accountable for their abuse of power is by giving the civilians the right to sue them, especially those who are less privileged than us. Most of the cases of police brutality you would hear of is about someone in a lower place in life therefore the officers must have that it’s alright to do what they do because what can they do? A huge example of this would be the “Oplan Tokhang” where a vast majority of citizens believe that it targets the poor and why wouldn’t they? When all they do is killing poor drug pushers while we rarely hear about the arrest of a drug lord (high ranking).
How many weren't filmed? Who do you call when the police murders?
