Res Gestae
Battle of perception
Advocates of reforms in the Philippine National Police postulate that the key to win public support for the police are: delivery of quality law enforcement services and low statistics of crime incidents. These parameters are obviously engraved in the PNP Integrated Transformation Program, which seeks to upgrade its capability to move, shoot and investigate.
At the onset, I don't question the said hypothesis, knowing that there is indeed an urgent need for the PNP to address the lack of its capability for Internal Security Operations and anti-criminality campaigns. The PNP lacks patrol cars and motorcycles, firearms, communication equipment, watercrafts, aircrafts, police stations, office equipment, and personnel. In fact, these have become cliché justifications, nay alibis, to police failures and ineffectiveness.
Thus, as expected, the framers of PNP ITP strongly believe that should these problems be properly addressed, there would be a better PNP that can provide better services to the public. And, ultimately, it will create good public impression/perception of the police force.
Apparently, the strategy makes it very costly for the PNP to create good impression and win public support. Why? The answer lies on these facts: - the PNP is 65% short of mobility assets, 80% short of aircrafts, 76% short of watercrafts; with only 2,280 handheld radios, 326 mobile radios, 1,885 base radios; and, a huge variance between the actual and ideal police-population ratio of 1:500. If so, the PNP needs several billions to accomplish its goals.
The figures may have changed after the ITP has kicked off almost three years ago. But, I am certain that no significant development has really happened up to this moment.
While I don't intend to underestimate the wisdom of the framers of PNP ITP, I can't help but suggest a more subtle, yet effective and cost efficient mechanism to win the public's trust, confidence and support – the use of media.
I understand media as defined in Encarta Dictionaries, that is, the various means of communication – television, newspapers, magazines, radio, and the people involved in the production.
It is an indubitable fact that media is an institution that forms public opinion and creates perception. Its reach is far and wide. Its impact is beyond control and imagination. Thus, if the PNP wants to win back the support of the public, it must learn the craft of good media relations.
If we are keen to notice, bad publicity of the country's police force floods the headlines of newspapers and fills the airwaves, day in and day out, 7 days a week. News reports (at times, feature stories) give us accounts of grim realities involving the men in blue uniform – either as individual or group, and from all levels of PNP echelon.
Media feeds the public with reports on police involvement in robbery, murder, kidnap-for-ransom, extra-judicial killing, extortion, illegal drug trade, illegal gambling, among others. Such reports do not only increase the fears of the public to the police but also cause them to withdraw support from the PNP.
I am not blaming the media, though. It is its mandate to tell the public of the news as they happened. It may give facts, analyses, opinions, and even speculations.
It is for this premise that I suggest the PNP to use media for its advantage.
I don't intend to propose "news blackout" on said violations and infractions by the police force. Such strategy will never be of help to achieve the goals. Instead, I am simply pounding on the need of creating an equilibrium between the bad news and the good news on police matters. This can be done by bringing into the consciousness of the public the many commendable accomplishments of the police force.
I am certain that there are litanies of worth-knowing stories of police actions, nay heroism, everyday than few isolated cases of police brutality and violations of law. Likewise, there are catalogues of successful police operations to speak of instead of speculating on their alleged affiliations with drug lords and gambling operators.
Stated otherwise, there are countless of good cops against the police scalawags whose race is facing extinction.
Thus, if the issue on police image is but a battle of perception, the PNP then can easily win this battle by investing on its good cops. How? It is by letting the public realize that there are lots of service-oriented cops in their neighborhood. It is by educating the public that neither the failure of one cop nor the irregularity of one member will necessarily mean poor performance of the whole unit.
With these, however, the PNP needs to put up an aggressive and pro-active stance on any issue. It must not simply wait for the media to discover or uncover these good stories; it must tell them these stories.
This, I am convinced that should the PNP muster the craft of good media relations, it would not need billions worth of patrol cars and armaments to win the "battle".
(For your comments and suggestions, send SMS to 09193161190 or email at rogatepnp@yahoo.com.)