If there’s anything that the Philippine National Police should do to improve its image, and without spending much money in the process is simply to require its police force to emulate the Japanese “ritsuban” (stand guard) system. Here’s the link to Alice Gordenker article “Police who stand with big sticks” in the March 20, 2015 issue of Japan Times http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/03/20/reference/police-who-stand-with-big-sticks/#.VQ0yE_wwqSo

Ritsuban is a good example of police visibility. A police officer need not leave his post to be observant of whatever is not right. It is equivalent to Taiichi Ohno’s “hansei” (reflection) where junior engineers were required to stand inside a chalk circle in a factory during the early years of Toyota. Both approaches are proactive in character and intended as a solution looking for problems to solve.

Why copy the Japanese? Why not? The Japanese police is an active participant to Japan’s justice system that continue to maintain a high 99.7% conviction rate, according to Wikipedia.

The only trouble with Ritsuban is that Filipino police officers may be exposing themselves to potential harm from malevolent characters if they are not extra careful and observant.

Photo credit: Japan Times