Why is Davao City practically crime-free?
Because the city government has a “Big Brother” method of watching over its citizens in public places.
I was allowed entry into the “war room” of the city’s intelligence center building by Mayor Rody Duterte, one of the very few selected persons to have been given the privilege.
I cannot divulge what I saw inside the center except to say that the people selected to man the facility are super efficient.
In the center, I saw why criminals who commit a crime in a public place are immediately identified.
The center, which has the emergency call number 911 like the one in the US, relays the information to the police force, one of the most efficient in the country.
Tandem-riding gunmen, for example, would be hard put to commit a crime because there are “chokepoints” in the city’s strategic areas.
However, I forgot to ask—because I was overwhelmed to be given the privilege to visit the center—why not a single member of the vigilante group, called by approving citizens the Davao Death Squad or DDS, has been apprehended.
The liquidation of hardened criminals and drug pushers has been attributed to the vigilantes, some of whom ride on motorcycles when they hit their targets.
The efficiency of the people at the intelligence center, the police, the cooperative residents and, well, the DDS have all contributed to making Davao City the safest place in the country.
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Now, I know why Duterte has imposed a 40 kilometer-per-hour (kph) limit on busy streets in the city and 60 kph on the city’s highway.
I saw on closed circuit TV (CCTV) videos many people who were run over by speeding cars and speeding vehicles colliding with each other.
There were so many such accidents recorded that these made my hairs stand on end: It was as if I was watching a violent movie.
When the controversial Davao City mayor imposed the speed limit, the number of reported road accidents in the city went down considerably.
Nobody is spared from the speed limit.
Sara Duterte, the mayor’s daughter and herself a former mayor, was recently apprehended for speeding. She was fined and went through a tough time claiming her license from the Land Transportation Office (LTO) branch in the city.
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The cities in Metro Manila, which are plagued by petty street crimes and motorcycle-riding criminals, can learn from the Davao City government a thing or two about making their streets free of criminals.
Government officials in Metro Manila lack the political will to overcome criminals who thumb their noses at the police.
Radical measures are needed by the government to stop the reign of terror by criminals.
To heck with the human and constitutional rights of criminals!
Law-abiding citizens and crime victims also have their human and constitutional rights.
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One of the radical measures the government should take is to get rid of policemen who make use of their badge to commit crimes.
Rogue cops should be kicked out of the service at all cost.
If it’s not possible to dismiss rogue cops from the service because they are protected by civil service rules and constitutional due process, then a more final solution should be made.
In Davao City, rogue policemen are not spared by the dreaded vigilante group.