EDITORIAL - A few rotten apples is all it takes

Another scandal involving policemen has made it to the news; this time it’s the report that two women were reportedly detained, tortured, and raped inside a secret holding cell in a Cebu City police station.

The whole truth about the incident has yet to be uncovered, but for now 11 policemen allegedly involved in the incident have been relieved and are even set to lose their allowance from the city.

We can no longer count how many times we have written about the acts of policemen who behave more like criminals. There were those policemen who allegedly shot dead a girl who accused them of rape in Ilocos Sur. There were those policemen accused of reselling shabu seized from raids. There were those policemen who reportedly ambushed a mayor in Mindanao. Of course, who could forget about the policeman who, while being filmed, brazenly executed his neighbor and her son last year?

No doubt this latest incident is another black eye to the image of the police. Considering how many they have had so far, a new scandal really doesn’t help this image one bit.

There is no question in our mind that there are policemen out there who are doing their job with honor and dignity. Those who actually don’t have dirty hands. However, the sad fact is that they don’t usually make the news, it’s those who do dastardly acts that do.

And it is the behavior of these few that tarnish the reputation of the rest. One cannot help but see how a few policemen act as being how the rest of the police organization behaves. While some of us know that this isn’t the truth many will find it is easier to generalize than to dig deeper.

It takes only a few rotten apples to spoil the barrel. It takes only a few bad policemen to bring down the name of the entire law enforcement.

If enough damage is done to that name we can only expect more and more people to take the law into their own hands.