RES GESTAE
Conventional discrimination
What can police-criminologists do which police officers who are graduates of other degrees cannot?
Many of my police friends threw me that question after they’ve read my previous article, “Latent Dysfunction.” (My avid readers got a copy of my article even before they grab a copy of TNT.)
It was an irony because they themselves should have answered that question.
But I knew their question was their indirect answer to what I referred to as latent dysfunction in the PNP organization.
Now, I give it a new name, conventional discrimination. It really is.
The 2007 version of Microsoft Encarta defines conventional as “usual or established”, using well-established methods or styles”, while discrimination as “treating people differently through prejudice: unfair treatment of one person or group, usually because of prejudice about race, ethnicity, age, religion, or gender”.
The discrimination in the PNP is not about ethnicity, age, religion, or gender. It’s about opportunities - between and among police non-commissioned officers. Licensed criminologists versus graduates of other degrees.
The limitations in hiring through the Lateral Entry Program are enshrined in the system of the PNP as ordained by a Napolcom memorandum. It is one kind of convention that has been adhered to for decades.
These limitations have made the non-criminologist members second class, second rated citizens in the only police force of this country.
I can just imagine how demoralizing this system has been for thousands of police officers who were raised in good universities and have earned qualifications far more than what most of the privileged criminologists have.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not inciting a battle between criminologist police personnel and those who are not. War is not a solution to the problem. Amendment of pertinent laws and revision of the Napolcom memorandum governing the Lateral Entry Program are the answers to this pressing issue.
But, I’m not saying that “war” cannot be opted as the last recourse.
Indeed, there are practices in the PNP, or in any organization for that matter, that can prevail for decades and render the best of their purposes; but there are also rules, policies, procedures and practices which wither and become less effective in time.
The exclusion of non-criminologist police personnel in the hiring of Lateral Entrants for Line Officer positions is a classic example of those worn-out rules, policies, procedures and practices of the PNP.
This should not be taken for granted. This must be given immediate attention.
The reason: it is counter-productive for an organization that seeks a long and lasting reform.
My number is 09193161190.