EDITORIAL - Give these men and women the same respect as our cops

Soon a group of civilian volunteers will be fielded to help the Cebu City police make sure that health safety protocols will still be followed by the public during this general community quarantine.

Called the Task Force Kasaligan, it was formed to fill in the void that will be created once the augmentation police forces that were brought here from other parts of the country to help enforce quarantine rules will be pulled out.

Authorities saw it fit to create the group as a force multiplier considering that the city already lacked policemen to begin with even before the pandemic. But unlike other force multipliers who are being tapped to help fight crime, the main focus of Task Force Kasaligan --meaning ‘reliable’ in the Visayan language-- will be to make sure quarantine protocols will still be followed.

Now we should give these task force members the same obedience and respect that we gave to the men in uniform who used to patrol our streets for quarantine violators and protocol violations.

Because these task force members may not have the air of authority about them, plus the fact that they are not armed, it may become easy and tempting for some of us to just dismiss them and ultimately do as we please.

We have to remember two things; first is that they were fielded mainly for our own safety and, second is that we are still experiencing a pandemic right now, though it may seem that the worst is already over.

Another thing we have to consider is that they are also taking on the role of frontliners. They are still very much at risk --even more so than others-- of catching, getting sick, and perhaps even dying of the virus. They are taking on a largely thankless role that will benefit the public at lot more than it will benefit them.

So while they may not have the uniform, the gun, or the general appearance that immediately commands obedience among civilians, we must not forget that they still have a certain degree of authority. 

And for those of us who are really hard-headed, that includes the authority to make warrantless arrests should the situation call for it.