Last weekend, I encountered a pleasantly surprising sight in my hometown of Silay City, when I spotted a pair of unusually dressed police officers in the sense that they didn’t look like they were dressed for urban warfare, but were refreshingly friendly and approachable to see in their cargo shorts and polo shirt uniform.
The 2 cops, who were apparently “tourism police” based on the writing at the back of their shirts, also had 2 cute cop scooters. These are the kind of cop uniforms that I actually prefer, as they don’t intimidate and give the impression that my home town is a crime-ridden war zone where urban camo, assault rifles, tactical vests, and SWAT vans are an absolute necessity. It would’ve been nicer if they had bicycles instead of motorcycles, which are friendlier, both to people and the environment, considering that Silay is just a small, easily patrollable town. But that might be too much to ask from the macho cop culture that became a thing under the previous administration.
Of course, as Filipino cops that are supposed to be bad ass, these friendlier-looking versions still had to be equipped with side arms which were holstered to their utility belts, because we apparently still live in a country where cops need to be able to shoot someone dead as a response to any threat to their safety.
Anyway, kudos to the Silay City government for giving its people these “tourism police” uniforms. I hope they become the rule rather than the exception, and our towns and cities keep the “war footing” uniforms and gear in the bodega for special occasions when we really need to scare the townspeople into compliance, such as when conducting security checkpoints for microscopic viruses that their special weapons and tactics are ironically incapable of neutralizing.
If you come to think of it, the cargo shorts and polo shirt getup is actually quite practical for policemen in this climate, which could be benefit our towns and cities as being dressed comfortable and practical clothing might put our cops in a better mood, potentially allowing them to perform their jobs better.
Every time I see our policemen that are dressed for war and armed to the tooth, I always wonder how their counterparts in first world countries like the United Kingdom and Norway, where patrol cops don’t carry firearms, are able to uphold peace and order, and at the same time command the respect of the population. It would be nice to know that our government officials responsible for peace and order also have this long term goal in mind, but if we look at the way our cops are being dressed and equipped, it feels like we are going in the opposite direction, where authoritarianism is the answer to everything and “nation building” equates to having a population that behaves like sheep.
That is one reason why I liked seeing cops in a more casual getup, is because it makes them seem like a part of the community they are supposed to serving and protecting, rather than belonging to a different class of Filipino that have been somehow granted the privilege to do whatever they want without any consequences. If change can start with the uniform, and the mindset follows, I am fine with that.
I hope that the Silay Tourism cops starts a trend of making cops look friendlier and more accessible, because my idea of an ideal community doesn’t include the heavily armed and tactically geared up version of the police that we’ve been forced to get used to over the past few years. I’d rather have cops that don’t rely on intimidation and brute force to keep the peace, but those who work smarter, not uglier by using their smarts, technology, and relationships within the community to keep us safe and stamp out criminality.
In my ideal world, the powerful weapons and tactical gear that the previous dispensation with the violence-centered mindset spent billions to acquire is rarely used and not even copiously displayed just to validate the imaginary power of the police force because we won’t need them to wear camouflage BDUs, tactical vests, and combat helmets when they can just as effectively keep the peace in cargo shorts, polo shirts, a VHF radio and smartphone, and maybe a non-lethal weapon such a taser. Our trigger-happy, action-star wannabe officials can just break out the SWAT vans, assault rifles, and tactical gear only when a real emergency is encountered, which certainly doesn’t need to happen ever, as long as our cops (who can wear shorts to work) do their day-to-day jobs properly.*
