Fighting corruption by role-playing investigation, must learn how to play with knives

“For me, this book is like a summary of the lessons of my first journey as a journalist, hard but happy. I hope it will be useful to you, and it will be even more fun if you find something interesting in it. If so, for me, it is already a very happy thing,” said journalist Nguyen Duc Hien.

According to press information, on the afternoon of March 22, Lieutenant Colonel Pham Thanh Binh, Chief of Staff, spokesman of Dak Nong Provincial Police, said that the Dak Nong Provincial Police Investigation Agency had executed a search warrant and executed an order to temporarily detain Mr. Tran Minh Loi (born in 1968, residing in Ea B'hốk commune, Cu Kuin district, Dak Lak province) at his private home to investigate the act of bribery brokerage.

Responding to the press, Lieutenant Colonel Pham Thanh Binh said: "The decision to prosecute and order temporary detention of Mr. Tran Minh Loi is the right person, the right crime and in accordance with the law."

The person arrested for denouncing corruption - Mr. Tran Minh Loi

This is a case that has attracted the attention of the whole society, when the arrested person - Mr. Tran Minh Loi, published many documents related to a number of police officers with signs of receiving bribes.

From a journalistic perspective, this story also needs to draw a lesson about "role-playing investigation", lest playing with knives one day cuts your hand. With permission from Journalist Nguyen Duc Hien, Infonet respectfully publishes the original content posted on journalist Nguyen Duc Hien's personal Facebook about this incident.

Below is the sharing of Journalist Nguyen Duc Hien about the case of "arresting the person who accused the police of accepting bribes".

"I didn't know who Tran Minh Loi was until half a month ago, when my younger brother, a neighbor of Loi's, showed me his anti-corruption Facebook page. I have no way to judge the right or wrong of the cases, but I think he's too reckless in his actions. Just last night, my younger brother asked me, and I said I clearly saw that Tran Minh Loi could die from playing with knives.

Firstly, Tran Minh Loi is enthusiastic and has some skills in recording, filming secretly and collecting information. However, a common practice that Loi uses is role-playing and setting traps. Role-playing is a special technique, but it should not be abused. Because to "transform", the person playing the role needs to clearly know that it is a role and withdraw before it causes consequences for the individual and society. Collecting evidence and creating situations, encouraging others to violate in order to collect evidence are two different things, and there is an extremely fragile gap between them.

One principle when playing the role of an investigator is not to affect the phenomenon in a way that changes its nature. Even those who are experienced in both reconnaissance and prosecution, with the support of teammates and organizations, can fall into the trap they set, like a hunter who dies from stepping on an animal trap, because he oversteps his limits. On Tran Minh Loi's Facebook, many people have commented to warn about this. However, he believes that when arresting drugs or criminals, the police also set traps. It is not known who the police set up and to what extent, but whoever sets up a spy and does not pull out in time so that the spy gets caught up in the lawsuit, he will surely die. Moreover, the prosecution agency has investigative powers that journalists and citizens do not have, so do not compare.

Second, Tran Minh Loi created too many enemies at the same time. In a short period of time, Loi encountered too many people. One of the principles of investigation is to isolate the subjects, but Loi's method can make the "enemies" sympathize and unite with each other. And so, the investigator is always in a four-sided position. That will disperse too much effort to deal with.

Third, Loi was too boastful and subjective about his ability. In a short time, he turned his private home into an unofficial office and expanded the number, scale of cases and the area of ​​"fighting" corruption to both Dak Lak and Dak Nong provinces. Even a powerful apparatus could hardly do that. Many "investigations" of Loi relied only on documents from one side and within a few days "announced the results" on Facebook, where one could find many loopholes in both evidence and arguments. I just re-read the case of Loi setting a trap for the daughter of the Director of the Department of Health on Tuoi Tre. Based on what this newspaper pointed out, Loi's evidence of bribery was very clear, but the other woman's evidence of bribery was not.

Responding to some advice from people through comments on his personal Facebook, Loi said that if Hoai Nam of Thanh Nien Newspaper was not punished for setting a trap, he would not be punished either. This is because Tran Minh Loi lacks information, Hoai Nam has experience, knowledge and close connections with the Police Inspectorate before, during and after the investigation; Hoai Nam was protected by the Editorial Board when facing the Inspectorate of the Press Department. In terms of resources and procedures, Nam is much stricter but Nam still suffered consequences.

Fourth, Tran Minh Loi's actions have inadvertently isolated himself, causing concern for many people due to fear of being implicated. With what he has published on Facebook, it seems that he has secretly filmed or recorded every communication. That will limit communication and social relationships to support when necessary. People are afraid of being exposed, and feel a loss of freedom when in front of them is someone who always takes advantage of every opportunity to secretly film and record as evidence.

Of course, investigating corruption requires accepting the price. But praise (and acclaim) can easily make investigators subjective; a few victories can make them cross necessary boundaries. Under the law, except in cases where a small interest must be harmed to save a larger interest of the community (in an urgent situation), setting traps is not considered a mitigating circumstance, and the end cannot justify the means.

Furthermore, the nature of the crowd is anonymous. So the crowd can praise an investigator, making him think that he is acting on behalf of heaven, a hero saving the world. But when you are in trouble, in that crowd, hardly anyone has the means or the dedication to save you. They can turn their backs on you without feeling guilty, because everyone around them has turned their backs on you in the same way.

You can find joy in a crowd, but first you should experience the pain of facing it alone, to know the limits of the power of the crowd".

According to Infonet