Crime: There is no rock bottom

Paolo Kernahan

BANDITS reportedly roughed up an 11-year-old schoolboy as he left Newtown Boys' – all for $27.

We view crimes like this as a definitive low point in our irrevocable slide – it can’t possibly get worse.

That’s selling ourselves short. With countless "first worsts" notched on our belts, there are no depths of depravity that can’t be achieved. As a nation, we have a can-do attitude where we shouldn’t and a can’t-do attitude for almost everything else.

But we certainly talk a good game, don’t we?

Recently citizens were fed typical off-the-rack platitudes about "taking the fight against crime to the front" at a news conference. What have the authorities been doing all this time…playing Jenga?

These public pacifiers are usually shoved into our muttering mouths following a seminal event in the criminal oeuvre. In this case, it was the butcher’s bill of seven dead in 24 hours.

That’s why the positive assessment of DCP Junior Benjamin that "We have crime totally under control" must feel, to ordinary citizens, like the quality of hallucination that comes from being poisoned. The victims of a Tuesday night violent home invasion – mere days after Benjamin sang his positive spin – probably have a different take on the TTPS’s cheery outlook.

His senior, Erla Harewood-Christopher, agreed with that hot take. The commissioner was questioned about the then murder figure of 430 and her response was instructive, and disconcerting.

The CoP said the murder rate is a statistic "used by the public" to gauge crime, but there are other areas where there are glimmers of hope, ie performance. It's interesting the commissioner should say that, given how often she’s trotted out infinitesimal declines in murder figures to claim credit for nebulous police actions. So the murder rate isn’t some scorecard established by the citizenry with no means of gathering data.

DCP Benjamin (the C stands for control) alluded to a 16 per cent reduction in reports of serious crimes this year compared to last year. Don’t forget the word "reports," because we’ve been here before.

Indeed, the number of serious crimes for this year (including homicides) is just over 6,000. For the corresponding period last year, the number was 7,800.

What’s being promoted as a drop in serious crimes – home invasions, robberies, kidnapping, extortion, etc – can also be interpreted as a reduction in reporting by victims. It may be an outward manifestation of the ever-diminishing confidence citizens have in the police.

DCP Benjamin reissued the tired old call for members of the public to assist in the fight against crime. He shared phone numbers the public can call to give information without having to speak directly to the police.

If you’re so inclined, this is the better option, as officers are still demanding your personal information when you call to make a report – going as far as hanging up the phone if you refuse to comply.

All this to say the notion of the police having any sort of handle on the crime situation is ridiculous, particularly for those of us being victimised daily.

Aside from indigestible claims of control, there was another wild revelation. Eight large Coast Guard vessels are currently inoperable. At least two of those, the Austal Cape vessels, were acquired only in 2021. The Minister of National Security, in his breezy remarks on this bombshell, said, “That is the way of the world. Vessels will always be out of service. Vessels will always be dry-docked for major works.” Hi ho, is so it go!

The fact is that the eight major craft meant for the defence of our maritime borders – to staunch the free flow of guns, drugs and other assorted malevolence – are all kaput in our world. This is incompetence and gross dereliction, as only we do with such casual indifference.

Of course, the indifferent don’t suffer the consequences of their how-it-hang-is-so-it-swing ethos. I can’t be sure whether officials at that knee-jerk news conference were pressed by reporters on whether having a considerable portion of our maritime patrol capability out of commission is satisfactory.

There’s no bottom to what citizens of this country will accept from this administration. Consequently, there is no limit to the terror, death, destruction and ruin yet to befall us.

If you can’t picture crime getting worse – beyond the routine extermination of whole families with nary a shrug – you lack imagination.

The news conference on crime was the action. The ticketmaster roadblocks are the action. Without loud and sustained objection from the public, our descent shall continue.