The use of body cameras during police anti-drug operations is encouraged but not yet required, the Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa said earlier today.
Well, at least he didn’t say that “God” was their camera again.
Dela Rosa said the use of body cameras would depend on availability, adding it would be unfair to require cops to use body cameras if the government could not yet provide the gadgets.
“You cannot require what you do not provide. For now, we can’t provide cameras to all of the stations, we’re still in the process of procurement,” Dela Rosa said in Tagalog.
Fair point.
The PNP said in September that they planned to purchase at least 37,000 body cameras.
He said the policy to use body cameras during drug operations will be required as soon as the government procures enough equipment for all police stations nationwide.
The government pushed for the use of body cameras during anti-drug operations after allegations of extrajudicial killings perpetrated by the police surfaced in 2016, after President Rodrigo Duterte launched his bloody crackdown on illegal drugs.
Police records show about 4,000 people have died during police operations but human rights organizations claim that at least 12,000 people have been killed during the war on drugs.
According to the new drug war guidelines, the PNP will enforce a one-strike policy for police officers wherein it will sack policemen involved in illegal drugs.
During operations, injured suspects must also be brought to the hospital for immediate medical treatment while those killed should still be subjected to onsite inquest proceedings.
“There are a lot of salient points that should be cascaded up to the station level so that the implementation of the campaign is uniform and that we won’t get scolded over it [our operations],” he added.
Aside from the supplemental operational guidelines for the anti-drug campaign, the PNP is also finalizing separate guidelines for the Oplan Tokhang, the government’s official name for the war on drugs.
Duterte has returned the police to the front lines of his controversial campaign after suspending the PNP from drug operations in October.
with a report from ABS-CBN News
