Criminologists, social scientists, and criminal justice professionals from Asia, Australia, Europe, Canada, and the USA will discuss new research and trends in criminal justice at the Asian Criminology Society’s 15th annual conference on August 8 to 10.
Melchor C. de Guzman, Ph.D., professor of criminology and criminal justice at Georgia Gwinnett College in the United States, will deliver a plenary address, exploring a new model of preventing police misconduct. He will explain how police misconduct happens in the exercise of a routine function of a police officer and how these incidents can be projected and prevented.
“Democratic policing demands accountability in the use of power because police actions can produce irreversible harm,” de Guzman said. “A mechanism of control should not only be reactive but also preventative and proactive.”
de Guzman is a policing expert whose extensive professional and academic careers have involved the study of police organization and behavior. He is a seasoned academician with experiences in teaching at the National Police College and the Philippine Public Safety College and police academies in the United States. His scholarship has produced over 40 publications including books and peer-reviewed articles.
A native of Mangaldan, Pangasinan, de Guzman earned master’s and doctoral degrees in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, USA. He has been a professor of criminal justice in the US for 24 years.
de Guzman is past president of the Criminal Justice Association of Georgia and chair of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents’ Academic Advisory Council in Criminal Justice. He has also been involved in grant projects investigating the implementation of community policing; insider threats in financial institutions; and the investigation of minor sex trafficking in Asia.
His professional field experience started in the Philippine Senate where he served as Senate Committee Secretary of National Defense and Security. He steered the passing of a significant reform legislation known as the Philippine National Police Reform and Reorganization Act (Republic Act 8551). Later he served as Director in the Philippine Veterans’ Affairs Office.
The three-day conference, themed “Criminology, Criminal Justice, Technology, and Public Safety,” will be held at MIDAS Hotel in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines.
Joining de Guzman in the speakers’ roll are Professional Regulatory Board of Criminology Chairman Hon. Ramil G. Gabao, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency Director General Hon. Ricardo F. De Leon, Professional Criminologists Association of the Philippines (conference co-host) President Dr. Gerry J. Caño, RCrim, Prof. Bitna Kim, Ph.D., Prof. Friedrich Losel, Prof. Jianhong Liu, Prof. Raymund E. Narag, and Prof R Thilagaraj Ramasubbu.
LATEST COURSE OFFERING
Another higher education institution has offered the BS Criminology program. “The timeliness of offering the (program) is the institution’s response to the rapidly changing field of Criminal Justice… the program of which will be infused with combative sports training,” National University (NU) Laguna said in a statement.
Half a year ago, the government highlighted the importance of the profession with the signing of Proclamation No. 397 declaring November 3 to 9 of every year as Philippine Criminology Profession Week. It read: “It is imperative to recognize the role of the criminology profession in the maintenance of national security, and to honor Filipino Criminologists who have remained committed to the exercise of their profession while contributing immensely to the development of our nation, especially in the sectors of public safety and peace and order.”
NO MORE EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLING?
Since the conference will be held in the Philippines, it is expected that attention will be given – but not center stage – to the importance of proper police operations for safer streets.
Remember the 2016-2022 presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, who launched a bloody but failed War on Drugs. Fast forward to the new administration six years thereafter, the highly controversial police operation called “Tokhang” (and related calibration of it) should no longer be continued, according to top police generals and even President Bongbong Marcos Jr.
Tokhang hit the road with thousands of extra-judicial killings (EJKs) and it is now the subject of an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which included the former president himself in the case.
As conference organizers prepare for the August event, will there be more important developments before that, especially the actual capture of Apollo Quiboloy by police authorities either in the Philippines or abroad? Will there be more revealing papers and effects as a result of more police raids of POGOs in the country? There will be so much to learn from the conference indeed.
DC Alviar
Professor DC Alviar serves as a member of the steering committee of the Philippine International Studies Organization (PHISO). He was part of National University’s community extension project that imparted the five disciplines of a learning organization (Senge, 1990) to communities in a local government unit. He writes and edits local reports for Mega Scene. He graduated with a master’s degree in development communication from the University of the Philippines Open University in Los Baños. He recently defended a dissertation proposal for his doctorate degree in communication at the same graduate school under a Philippine government scholarship grant. He was editor-in-chief of his high school paper Ang Ugat and the Adamson News.
