Room for improvement in Combating Crime

Wednesday, 25 July 2007
(The Borneo Post)
Of late, the incidence of house breaking, involving the robbery of a shotgun in one case, snatchings and thefts, ranging from petty to serious, has made the news and, no doubt, caused much alarm among the public.
Gangs of thuds are active not only in Kuching but also the other major towns, and nothing and no one seems to be spared - shops, offices and homes, ordinary people and VIPs have all been victims.
The are many questions that ought to be asked vis-à-vis the recent spate of crimes to have hit the State.
Who are actually behind all these lawless acts? Is it the work of individuals or organised syndicates or both?
Are foreigners or locals involved? Or do both have a hand in this dirty business?
Furthermore, is it because the police have turned the screw on the big-time hoods and are perhaps more focused on solving the high-profile cases that the small-time crooks have seized upon the resultant window of opportunity to break into homes and offices, thinking the police are pre-occupied elsewhere?
Make no mistakes though. Even so-called small-time crimes can turn violent, and victims do get seriously hurt when they refuse to submit to the demands of the perpetrators.
The favourite targets in house-breaking incidents are unattended houses (as in the case of an Assistant Minister whose house was burglarised when no one was around), homes in quiet, if not isolated, residential neighbour-hoods and offices closed over a long holiday … although robbers, posing as company workers, have been known to enter homes and cart away a lorry load of expensive properties.
While it may not be reasonable to expect the police to be everywhere, there is one thing the cops can certainly do to circumvent their seemingly interminable problem of limited manpower: get public-spirited citizens in residential areas to organise themselves into vigilante corps.
This is, of course, not a new idea but one that can surely be encouraged and further promoted with the police providing the leadership.
Nightly patrols by neighbourhood watch groups will promote cooperation among residents to keep crime in check in their areas. And this united stand will go a long towards deterring would-be criminals.
Now, whatever has happened to the police pondok?
Can’t we put up more and spread them around so that police presence will not only be felt but also seen to be felt in greater degree?
Police mobile patrols are well and good, but more, apparently, need to be done as the crime rate could be much higher than officially recorded, considering it’s entirely plausible that not all crimes committed are accounted for.
The full force of the law can only be brought to bear on the perpetrators with stepped up policing and crime-prevention measures, involving close public co-operation.
In combating crime, one pertinent point is that even when thuds are caught, brought before the court and sentenced to jail, there’s no guarantee they will not go back to their criminal ways when released.
Therefore, the authorities may also have to look at the root cause(s) to find out whether it is linked to societal ills such as youths dropping out of school at a young age, broken homes, drug addiction, and above all, unemployment.
It is here that social workers must come into the picture to help put in place a system that goes beyond the usual haul-them-up routine and then leave it to the courts to mete out the sentence.
We may never be as effective as we hope in preventing crime if we tackle the scourge in the same old way. If the system becomes too stereo-typed and predictable, the criminal mind will be able to read the situation and capitalise on it.
In every society, at least 10 per cent of the citizenry falls under the category of incorrigible criminals – and that, arguably, is the raison d’etre for the existence of the police.
But even so, criminality will have gained the upper hand if we allow this 10 per cent to lead astray a much larger group of gullible adults and youngsters alike.
Law enforcement must, thus, stay on their toes to ensure hardened criminal masterminds are kept at bay at all times.
The problems of society have become much more complex and sophisticated, and it is time we tackle them by adopting a holistic approach.For unless we work diligently towards finding a solution to these problems - the challenges to their attainment not withstanding - the present situation may spiral out of hand. We hope it won’t.