[ad_1]
By Raffique Shah
May 28, 2024
When Police Commissioner Erla Christopher was met with a torrent of criticism that threatened to bury her, she should not have been surprised because, in other circumstances, she should have been celebrating her appointment to lead the police department for another year beyond the mandatory retirement age.
After all, this is a woman who has been in police work all her adult life, probably starting out as a constable and working her way up the ranks over the years. The public needs to understand that she must be offended by the insults directed at her. Yet her indignation is infuriating to a population that is being overwhelmed by a crime wave that has now spread to nearly every part of the country, and she and her 6,000 or 8,000 police officers are battling a beast that seems to have extraordinary power, money, guns, and tentacles.
We, the victims, need to understand that every police officer is a prime target for criminals who seem to have no respect for any life at all, let alone a police officer who is considered an enemy. Every day he or she wakes up/is alive, he or she must thank God for His mercy. On the other hand, the public asks all sorts of disturbing questions when they see the police raid suspects, and in recent kidnapping cases, four “suspects” died under police bullets. This is not to say that they are wrong: the police have often shot and killed “suspects” in the past, and these “suspects” are better dealt with alive. In such cases, they may provide information about criminal gangs and individuals in criminal groups, which may help the police in other cases or even solve the cases related to them. It is true that the dead cannot talk. But the living may provide a lot of information that is useful to the police and other government agencies.
Crime has become endemic, epidemic even, and most people simply don’t care what happens to the suspects. Commissioner Christopher must view the public’s criticism of her in a broader context. Crime rates, especially murder rates, are skyrocketing at an unprecedented rate: five murders a day; it is now becoming the norm that these murders take place “in broad daylight,” as my colleagues in the media like to say, in order to add some spice to their coverage, which is disturbing to the public. Murders alone result in at least three deaths, and often five. The number of near-death incidents increases when violent or aggravated robberies are added to the mix—incidents that can leave 60-100 citizens traumatized and entire communities fearing they will be the next victim of what we now euphemistically call a “home invasion.”
It is well known that many so-called minor crimes – snatching, real estate theft, petty theft – are omitted from the main reports, but perhaps 1,000 of these incidents are added every day. For a country of our size and demographics, these numbers are staggering. Citizens want the police to protect them. You and I both know that the latter is nearly impossible. They must protect themselves and their families by paying more attention to their safety wherever they are. The police can’t be everywhere; worse, the police don’t know everything, so citizens have an increasing role to play in crime prevention. I was surprised when I read that gunmen casually wandered in or near many popular “date spots”, mingling among law-abiding daters at some inopportune time and were predictably shot: the gunmen were simply conducting training exercises for their next big mission. Tell me, why in this crime-ridden environment would people choose to stay outside their locked doors after midnight? Because, let’s face it, even if your house is equipped with all the walls, cameras, alarms, police dogs, etc., it is as vulnerable as the street in front of your house.
This irresponsible behavior is blamed on the carelessness of ordinary citizens, but it does not negate or exclude the function of the police in our society. The police are called upon to protect and serve, and as such, they are obligated to do everything in their power to protect citizens in accordance with their oath of office. Regardless of the reason, when crime rates spike anywhere in the country, people expect the police to step in and stop the trend. Police Commissioner Christopher, who commands this army of law enforcement officers, will be held accountable for their actions or inactions, just like the officers before her. In her case, the problem began when every time she opened her mouth, the words she uttered seemed to mean nothing, let alone comfort or reassure the public about their safety. Yet, she chose to seek and was granted another year in office.
If Christopher is the best for us, then God help us.
[ad_2]
Source link
