Holistic approach to managing crime vital

THE EDITOR: I laud all our members of Parliament for agreeing to debate and brainstorm possible solutions to our vexed, national issue of crime. Indeed, their decision once again has provided me with yet another opportunity to address crime in TT and what is behind it – greed, frustration, poor socialisation, and the lack of a positive, dynamic, unified and national ideology.

I have seen TT move from cutlass banditry to gun violence through which gang warfare moved from sharpened razors smeared with garlic, the cutlass, bottles, iron bolts, and simple but lethal home-made guns to sophisticated assault weapons.

Robberies were committed in the context of breaking into and entering homes, snatch-and-run petty robberies, payroll robberies, car stealing, and even bank robberies. Of course, white-collar crimes have always been with us but less visible and violent.

Crime now is more complex and better organised, driven by many factors – some of which I mentioned above. Increasingly I see the problem in the failure of our socialisation institutions to contribute to the vibrant society we need in this period of our evolution.

We educate our students without understanding their reality – how they live, the rationale behind their behaviour and aspirations, or even how they learn. Indeed, how many parents, teachers, or even strategic Ministry of Education officials can tell us how children learn and what we can do to improve their learning?

With respect to the home, religious organisations, the media, and cultural organisations, things are not fundamentally different. We lack a unifying and empowering ideology. For example, many of our children go to school and learn bling, about drugs and sex instead of the basics of social graces, social skills, national development, sociology, psychology, philosophy, economics, politics, language, ethical and cohesive relationships, and healthy living.

Further, a great number of our university graduates obtain degrees but are unable to innovate, analyse, and use their imagination. Ethics and dress codes also pose a problem.

Another revealing point is that many professionals pursue education to get a good job, then enjoy the good life, partying and having fun until retirement, paying little or no attention to national development. If this is the reality with professionals, then what is it for the man in the street or the many dropouts from school who are only looking just “to eat a food?”

Indeed, crime is the product of our failure to create and sustain a cohesive and affluent society through developing and promoting a positive vision and mission for all in TT. It may also be due to our carefree and unethical approach to living, work, creating wealth, thrift, politics, religion, sports, relationships, and patriotism. My point, then, is that the police and draconian legislation will not alone be able to manage crime in our society.

Without a doubt, we need a purposefully holistic approach to managing crime. The blame game has to stop. Crime is everybody’s business.

RAYMOND S HACKETT

Curepe