CAMP HAMAC, Dipolog City – Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar admitted that they only have distributed eight percent of the body cameras needed for its operations involving the execution of warrants as required by the Supreme Court.
“We just provided one (body camera) set to each city police station nationwide . . . 16 body cameras for each set including command (systems) and accessories, it only represents eight percent of our total requirements, so we still need a lot,” Eleazar said during a visit here August 3.
He however did not give a categorical answer when asked about problems in the regions and provinces where to get money to buy body cameras and said the PNP has been linking with the Supreme Court to thresh out the operational guidelines to the police.
In a statement earlier, Eleazar said he trusted that his commanders will find ways to comply with the Supreme Court’s guidelines on the use of body cameras. The Supreme Court rule took effect upon publication in newspapers on July 31.
Eleazar said during a press conference here, the PNP will never question Supreme Court guidelines, but they would just seek some clarifications so their implementation of the guidelines would be effective.
“Mahirap na man na hindi alam (ng Supreme Court) ang issues at concerns namin kasi maaring di namin ma-comply yung mga requirements nila (It’s difficult if the Supreme does not know our issues and concerns of because we may fail to comply their requirements),” Eleazar said.
The PNP chief said that Supreme Court guidelines provided that in case of no body camera is available, the police can use alternative recording devices, “but the minimum specifications they released for alternative recording devices are actually the specifications of our body-worn camera.”
He added that the Supreme Court should clarify this because the cellular phones sold in the market have no capability as the body cameras needed in police operations.
Nevertheless, Eleazar said that the use of body cameras is a huge breakthrough in the professionalization of the PNP because everything the police will do in its operations will be documented.
Asked how optimistic is he that incidents of evidence planting would finally be eradicated, Eleazar said “it will eventually. Knowing that all of our policemen are aware that they are being recorded, everything they will do must be in accordance with the protocols and standard operating procedures (SOPs).”
“We can see the future that we have police personnel who are really qualified, schooled, and trained properly and have defended the rights of everyone, including the rights of the police from unlawful accusations,” Eleazar said.
The PNP chief said that they may not be able to achieve all that they wanted to do, “at least we have started now with these body cameras.”
