How Can We Win the War on Crime with Low Police Morale?
I just came from a police officers training course at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Region XI. I am usually asked to talk about gender issues and the enforcement of laws on women and children. And I felt like a hypocrite talking about how it is duty of the police to enforce these laws or face administrative sanctions as provided in the law when the leadership of the PNP, both local and national, is being perceived to be violating such laws.
I could not help myself. I needed to ask the participants of the training: “How is your morale these days?” I could practically hear their collective sigh. “Low morale talaga kami ngayon, ma’am” (our morale now is so low, ma’am) was the consensus of the class of around 50 police officers from all over Davao region.