There seems to be something fundamentally wrong with the training of cops (or lack of it) in the Philippines. A few months ago, anti-carnap cops of the Traffic Management Group (TMG) gunned down three alleged carnappers. Now they’re at it again. They shot at the car of a pharmaceutical executive.
Luckily, the guy was able to continue driving and the cops weren’t able to give chase. Had things been different, we probably would be reading in the news about a drug crazed executive (it would be hard to frame him as a carnapper) killed after firing at the cops. Of course, the scene will be complete with a sachet of shabu and a Jericho pistol. Maybe even a wounded cop.
But back to training. There’s the matter of proper flag down procedure. There’s the matter of car recognition. And finally, there’s the matter of the objective of anti-carnap cops being not to just stop carnappers, but also to recover stolen cars. Unless there is a clear and present danger to other people, they should just let the carnappers go if there really is no way of stopping the stolen car but to start shooting. After all, what good is recovering a bullet riddled car?