Crime’s chilling impact

JUST WHEN it seems there is little more to be said about crime, we are forced to confront yet another aspect of its chilling impact on our society.

This October, as the murder toll surpassed 500, long-standing concerns about the way high levels of violence have negatively shaped our way of life have deepened.

As detailed in a Sunday Newsday report this week, some people are increasingly avoiding social activity and seeking refuge in their homes.

A few are even describing themselves as “paranoid,” in a mark of just how wary they have become of their surroundings.

While it would be an exaggeration to say we have become a country of hermits, and while this situation is not something that has happened overnight, there is no doubt all citizens have just cause to be extra vigilant.

Not only is trauma affecting people who are directly affected by the activities of criminals, but casual onlookers, too, have become casualties, whether young or old.

For instance, this country is veering perilously close to what pertains in the US, where students daily live with the threat of gun violence – a situation exacerbated by that country’s toxic politics.

With illegal weapons overflowing on our shores and with criminals treating children as collateral damage, a new generation of students is growing up without the comforts enjoyed by previous ones, who never had to endure a situation in which a school was not a safe space.

If young people must dodge bullets today, so must senior citizens, such as hairdresser Indra Ramkissoon, the owner of Indra’s Beauty Salon.

On October 25 she was injured in an attack roundly condemned by the San Fernando Greater Chamber of Commerce.

“She is traumatised and will be unable to work,” lamented chamber president Kiran Singh on October 27.

While there is little data to track the increased reliance by members of the public on psychological-care services, there are enough facts to suggest significant levels of trauma and stress-related illness in the population.

“Anecdotally, I would say the short and long-term effects of crime-related trauma, such as those consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder, have been areas that we’ve seen growing requests,” noted president of the TT Association of Psychologists Kelly Mc Farlane in an interview this month.

Even Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of operations Junior Benjamin this month said he, too, is extra vigilant and his family members as well, saying, “I know the times we are living in.”

All of this has been the case for many people for a long time now.

The question is whether policymakers can ever adequately address this little-appreciated dimension of the problem, outside of the usual platitudes.

Crime is not, and has never been, just about numbers.