Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 16) — Instead of relying on “lamppost CCTVs” to piece together a drug bust, police officers should be required to wear body cameras that would record the whole operation on video, according to House Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto.
“Police officers who participate in drug busts must be made to wear body cameras, so that a video recording of the operation will aid in prosecuting suspects, commend deserving officers, and deter those caught, and their coddlers, from bribing their way to freedom,” Recto said in a statement on Sunday.
The lawmaker made the statement amid the investigation into the alleged involvement of high-ranking Philippine National Police (PNP) officials in a massive shabu haul and an ensuing “cover-up” in October last year.
Among the evidence provided by authorities against the PNP officials were CCTV footage.
Recto stressed that the police should stop relying on CCTV footage and instead use body cameras during operations to preserve “hard to refute documentation.” “Whether the narcotics seized weigh one kilo or one ton, a video recording is the best receipt there is,” Recto said.
