Mamang pulis needs his cellphone

By Alex P. Vidal

“My cell phone is my best friend. It’s my lifeline to the outside world.”—Carrie Underwood

ASKING members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) not to use cellphones so they can’t watch videos and use Facebook while on duty is like burning the house for a rat.

In this age where the use of mobile phones is not only essential but a necessity for everyone—cops or not— living in a civilized world, preventing the men and women in uniform from using their cellphones may not be a wise move.

If PNP chief General Rommel Marbil was only against police personnel using the social media in their mobile phones while performing their job, the least he could have done was to ask them to log out from their social media accounts while on duty.

Logging out from any social media account may be a win-win solution for General Marbil and his personnel instead of totally separating the cops from the gadgets they have loved to carry just like their issued firearms.

Marbil should have allowed them to bring their cellphones wherever they go so their station commanders and families can reach them in case of urgent calls and emergency.

Fabrice Grinda said, “The most important impact on society and the world is the cell phone. Cell phones have actually been one of the primary drivers in productivity improvements.”

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Cops aren’t stupid to watch TikTok and scroll their social media accounts up and down or watch on Youtube the replay of Vice Ganda’s show while they are chasing a robbery suspect or raiding a gunrunner’s house.

Plain and simple common sense. The cops are professional. Let’s not insult their intelligence.

They can always log in back after duty—if they can’t resist the itch to “like” their friends’ posts or post something in their accounts like what other normal people with social media accounts do nowadays.

When they hang their uniforms temporarily after duty and go home to their families, cops are just like you and me when they’re off-duty: enjoying life as human beings.

They are part of the modern society embroiled in the latest fad: the social media. And they, too, have feelings and thoughts. How can we separate them from the mainstream? We can’t.

Under General Marbil’s order, Pinoy cops are like living in the sixties, seventies and early eighties. They are going backwards.

While waiting for criminals in the streets or patrolling in the communities, they will have to bring plenty of chewing gums again to fight off boredom.

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SAVE TREES. One ton (907 kilograms) of recycled wastepaper spares 17 trees. Let us recycle and save trees.

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(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)