Dear Editor,
It appears that we are on the verge of defeat, as criminals are consistently testing the complacency of our judiciary system. These law breakers have set this trend for many years and so there is absolutely nothing new under the sun. What is alarming is that criminals have been steadfast with their message of proclaiming who is in control, but our law enforcement has failed to take heed. Now that they are boxed in and sent into frenzy, they are scrambling to find an immediate solution to fix the problem.
In order to curb this enormous challenge, our law enforcement must first acknowledge that it takes guts and a host of underlining influences, to motivate criminals to carry out their illegal activities. Then, they have to identify what is triggering this situation. At a glance, there are a couple of major factors: first of all, to solicit information from the public just like that can never be effective, because the relationship between the community and the police is almost none-existent. As a matter of fact, the majority of police officers do not even say "Good Morning" to the public, so how do they expect the same community to assist them?
Secondly, there is a severe lack of police presence. Officers are not combing the neighbourhoods as expected, and so the criminals are doing it for them. On a very small island, sometimes for a whole month I haven't seen one police officer. I have no idea who is the community officer for my area. When one passes by the police station, it looks like every single police vehicle is parked up.
This situation gives the impression that all the police officers are in the building. Then, of course, criminals will have a field day, because they already monitored the movements of the police. Take notice of the frequency and time of day when these robberies take place. These activities could only occur when there is a serious lack of law officers patrolling our neighbourhoods.
How could the community have full protection when police officers reside in the office? The action is on the outside. That safe feeling that we once had is gone completely and the only way to restore it is for police officers to integrate and connect with the people.
Thirdly, when someone reports a crime, that individual is being interrogated as if he or she is the criminal and so people prefer not to say anything. If the police want information from the public, there must be a better way to process the data and establish a trusting relationship between them and the community.
With regard to the prison, the impression that is created is that lack of personnel is the major cause for the breach of security. Any establishment could be fully staffed and still encounter this kind of problem, because the security of the facility does not depend on the number of personnel, but the quality of that staff.
Furthermore, to recruit more personnel from the Netherlands to help fight crime is not the way to go. Instead, there should be a collaborated effort of all law enforcement agents, to initiate ways to tackle the problem, including investing in the educational development of all prisoners. The emphasis should no longer be placed on housing criminals, but on searching for ways to reduce these illicit activities.
Now more than ever, our ministry of education has to focus heavily on establishing a comprehensive programme that would fit the needs of the inmates to facilitate and complete the rehabilitation process. When prisoners get the opportunity to become occupied in positive ways, they will have little time to engage themselves into more destructive behaviours.
Joslyn Morton
