We can gain more by taking suspects alive, says Doria

A LOCAL police official has cited the advantage of taking suspects or criminals alive during police operations.

Senior Supt. Joel Doria, Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) chief, said he believed that drug suspects or criminals should be given a chance to live.

But aside from that, police can also gain information from the arrested suspects or criminals.

“As much as possible, we want to catch them alive because that will allow us to dig deeper and get more information about their operations,” he said in an interview.

“If they are killed, then that’s it. So, we really want them to live and tell us about the extent of their operations,” Doria said.

Doria’s reactions came amid the assurance of General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, Philippine National Police director, that police highly value the lives of people.

Dela Rosa was reacting to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey that said nine out of 10, or 90 percent of Filipinos want drug suspects to be arrested alive.

“Sa kanila (for them) 90 percent? Sa amin 100 percent. Mas gusto naming mahuling buhay (For them, 90 percent? For us, it’s 100 percent. We really want to arrest suspects alive),” Dela Rosa said in an interview with GMA News TV on Friday.

“What’s the use of waging this war on drugs if you don’t value life?” he said.

The SWS results were released following a series of surveys related to the drug war.

An earlier SWS survey shows that 63 percent of Filipinos believe that drug suspects were killed even after they surrendered themselves to authorities.

PNP spokesperson Chief Superintendent Dionardo Carlos said that in their 71,393 drug operations conducted from July 1, 2016, to Sept. 30, 2017, about 109,090 drug offenders are alive and are now facing criminal charges.