Smarting from criticism that the government’s war on drugs was ineffective and beneficial only to corrupt policemen, newly minted Metro Manila police chief, Police Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas, is now seeking to streamline the police’s narcotics operations.
Sinas said in Quezon City on Friday that he would be discouraging operations against small-time users whose arrests would likely yield less than a gram of narcotics.
“I’m not saying we shouldn’t apprehend users anymore. I’m saying don’t do it so often,” he said, suggesting that police turn the small users in order to catch bigger fish.
Sinas, who took over as director of the National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) on Oct. 16, said he was already in talks with top Metro Manila officials, city police chiefs and drug enforcement unit leaders to change the tack of their drug operations.
Disproportionate
Sinas lamented that the number of arrested big-time suspects was dismally low compared to those caught with nearly negligible amounts of drugs.
Although he did not reveal figures, Sinas lamented that the public had already been questioning the disproportion between the number of arrested suspects and the narcotics yield.
Critics of President Duterte have been using this statistic to taint the war on drugs.
“That kind of pattern is why we’re being criticized,” he said, adding that the credibility of the police is further tarnished by reports of dirty cops stealing and reselling seized narcotics.
“It should be quality over quantity,” said Sinas, who recently recalled 200 NCRPO policemen who were seconded to the New Bilibid Prison after 16 of them were found to have smuggled tobacco, alcohol and cell phones into the prison for sale to inmates.
“At some point, you’re going to have to ask, why are the arrests like this all the time? It’s impossible that there are no big fish in your area,” he added.
‘It takes time’
“If you are going to arrest [someone], then you have to develop [the case],” Sinas said, stressing the importance of proving criminal charges in court.
“They already know this,” he told reporters. “But we have to reinforce that again. It takes time.”
He reminded drug enforcers that “the time, effort and resources needed to file a case against big-time suspects is the same as with small ones.”
“Then when you get to court, [the suspects] would enter into a plea bargain, get out, and the cycle goes on,” he said, noting that new rules allowed by the Supreme Court allowed those caught with less than a gram of “shabu” could strike a plea bargain and cut their jail time to as little as six months to four years.
On the other hand, those caught with more than 10 grams of cocaine, 50 grams of meth and 500 grams of marijuana could be charged with drug trafficking which has stiffer penalties.
However, Sinas admitted that the police still need to implement massive institutional reforms to change the current mindset of policemen and their leaders.