Is there a crime wave in this City of Gentle People?
It seems that the media report about shootings everyday. Does it strike fear in your hearts? Is this now the new normal? Should we allow the present situation to continue?
Mayor Chiquiting had expressed his dismay, frustration, and utter disbelief that such shootings have occurred in a more daring manner. Can he control the situation with the police alone?
Although the work done by the police is crucial towards crime prevention and control, the presence of the police authority is not enough for a safe and crime free city.
People in the community also need to lend a hand towards crime prevention. If the Mayor Chiquiting hasn’t done it yet, it is suggested that he calls on all civic clubs like the Rotary, schools, churches, etc., to help address the problem.
How did our community come to this? This paper had previously written in its editorial about the Broken Windows Theory, which need to be revisited since it supports the concept of fear as the phenomenon’s crucial element.
The perception of fear comes from the sense of public disorder. The seeming lack of reliable social controls results in the deterioration of the fabric of the community, when one crime, starting from petty crimes like vandalism, is unsolved or is not penalized nor addressed effectively.
Gradually, the state of criminality will rise, as what is happening in our City; what used to be a random act is now a daily occurrence = random or targeted shootings in different locations, even in broad daylight.
Then the incidents are merely dismissed as “drug related”.
No wonder, residents are feeling hopeless, helpless, and disconnected.
Are we going to just surrender, cower in fear, while the violent drug culture overtakes the culture of civility of our City?
Revisiting the Broken Windows Theory will remind residents that “further petty crimes and low-level anti-social behavior will be deterred, and major crimes will be prevented if the community is active and reactive to any form of crimes, by having consistent and concerted action that “criminals will be caught and punished”.
Someone out there must know something about the criminals who perpetrate these crimes, and this kind of information is crucial to solving the case, catch the criminal, and have him charged and punished in the courts of law.
Let us stop the breakdown of the social value of “owning our communities”, where every resident should feel responsible for allowing a crime to occur and for it to remain unsolved.
Do you feel a sense of being personally invaded when you hear about these shootings? If the answer is positive, then you have an innate sense of being connected together as a community.
It is time to call on civil society to pool their heads together, and strategize as a community “owning and protecting their living spaces”.
This is a call for action. Dumaguete residents, unite against rising criminality!
________________________________
Author’s email: whelmayap@yahoo.com
