Sloppy police work

Whoever pulled the P1.6-million theft of the Sinulog Foundation’s cash is laughing his (or her) head off.

There’s no culprit to blame anymore for the sneaky crime.

Prosecutors let go of the convenient one to blame, a security guard who joined a post-Sinulog drinking session and turned his sleepy head away from the office long enough for someone to unload the contents of a vault.

There is not enough evidence to put Joselyndo Jabagat on trial, said prosecutors,  just “insinuations” and “suspicions” by the police that a minimum-wage sentry on duty was part of the bizarre robbery.

Jabagat’s main fault was his lack of vigilance, and that he stayed put, a sitting duck for law enforcers eager to score a quick resolution.

The earliest theory that the heist was an “inside job” becomes all the more pressing to follow now.

Only a few knew that an unprecedented amount of cash—a last-minute deposit made over the weekend with another bundle just hours earlier— was in the safe.

Only a few had access to the vault’s combination or had the familiarity of the office layout to carry out a forced entry.

It’s no longer even certain whether a break-in or a real burglary took place.

Prosecutors were so unimpressed by the witness accounts, some of them conflicting, and other evidence gathered by the police, that they tossed out the complaint.

If prosecutors had used more brutal language, they would have described the police work as sloppy.

Proof of the crime’s modus operandi—an empty vault or at least, a damaged door—were not presented in the complaint.

The lack of photos of this exhibit during the inquest was “intriguing” said Cebu City Prosecutor Nicolas Sellon.

“This is very important in order to know whether or not the vault itself, in contrast to its mere outside cover which can be opened by a key, was forcibly opened and destroyed by the alleged robber who entered the Administration Office at around 2:50 a.m. of Jan. 16, 2012 and stole the money.”

So did the thief use brute force or a combination number?

In the culture of the PNP, investigators consider a case “solved” when they file a case—any case will do—with the prosecutors office. This is especially so when the pressure to hang the crime on a suspect is high.

Fortunately Cebu City Prosecutor Ghandhi Truya and his boss are using sharper standards of justice—and a lot of common sense.

The case is returned to sender. Police just have to work harder to solve this crime.