Start taking the blame for crime

THE EDITOR: “Families and communities not only breed criminals, they also shelter and protect them. Hell, many of them share in the spoils of the lucrative criminal enterprises, not just the cash, but those who buy the stolen items and jewels.” – Raffique Shah.

For my time spent so far in the land of the living, I have come to witness drug addicts, aka pipers, bringing their loot to sell to my neighbours and us, who would purchase these items because we were getting the items at “best prices.”

We tolerated these pipers for a time until we did some self-searching and came to the conclusion that we were supporting stealing. It burned on our minds that someone was suffering the tragedy of their crops or household item going missing because of someone else’s addiction.

Worst yet, by us, the community, buying these items we were encouraging the pipers to continue stealing because they knew we were buying. We at home took it into consideration that what we were doing was wrong and that we should put ourselves in the position of the victim and imagine what it would feel like losing something we worked hard to grow or purchase. The thought was not a good feeling and so we decided to stop buying goods from these pipers.

After reading the drama an individual went through to get back a phone that was stolen and the poor response received from the police, I had no choice but to bring my point across about what we are creating in society by harbouring criminals. I don’t fully believe the person who returned the phone didn’t know the phone was stolen but used that excuse because they realised that they may face some serious trouble with the law. Because of technology, and not the law enforcement agencies, the individual got back the phone. It says a lot about the society we live in and also what kind of people we have in the protective services.

Families who have members involved in crime, and know it for a fact that they are in crime and enjoy in the spoils of the larceny, are no better than their family member. I remember an incident my dad told me about one of the villager’s sons, who had stolen a pumpkin from the neighbour and carried it home. The mother knew it was stolen and proceeded to cook the pumpkin. When the neighbour got the news what happened to her produce, she went to the house where the pumpkin went and inquired. The mother of the thieving son, would reply and say “I see so and so bring home a pumpkin and I cooking it here!”

Long story cut short, the neighbour took all the pumpkin (including the part that was cooking) and returned to her home. What was sad about the said incident was the fact that after getting caught, this mother encouraged her children to continue stealing. The child grew into a professional thief and was eventually jailed for stealing a goat. His best excuse to the magistrate was that the goat had attacked him and that is why he killed it. This is why sometimes when I see some mothers crying for their kids saying, “he was a good boy, he was never in nothing,” I realise that some of these parents knew their children were involved in pilfering and other illegal activities, yet they would have you believe that their charges were well behaved.

Today, when I hear people saying that the government not doing anything about crime, I often wonder what could they (government) do, when the families are protecting their children and encouraging them to continue down a criminal path and bringing the spoils of their labour for them to enjoy. We always want to blame someone else when we are the ones doing nothing to quell the troubles. I know that there are law-enforcers involved in crime but most times it is they (who are) involved with the communities doing the evil deeds. A single mother not giving up her bread because it was gained through criminal activities; the gangster not giving up that fast life to go work CEPEP, URP or security because that money coming in too slow; the dirty police not giving up his block to go back to a basic salary etc. This is where the problem lies. We would not give up our bad habits for a better society. So whenever we decide to come clean with ourselves and see that the problem really lies with us as a society, then, only then, can we talk about getting a real change out here. Anything other than that is just old talk.

KEVAUGHN FRASER, Point Fortin