Being interviewed by TV6 News on Carnival Monday Acting Police Commissioner James Philbert lamented the fact that citizens of this democratic country were not taking the advice of the police with regards the wearing of jewelry.
He went on to state that the police specifically told citizens to not come into the city wearing their jewelry as this would create "opportunities" for criminals.
At flittering consideration Mr Philbert’s recommendation might seem practical and therefore we may be quick to say ’it good for dem’ should anyone be robbed of their gold chain on Carnival Monday or Tuesday.
However, that would be a fatal mistake and gross perversion of our democratic freedoms.
As citizens living in a democratic country it is our fundamental right to purchase and wear jewelry and other luxuries when and wherever we choose without having the fear or concern of creating opportunities for criminals.
When a Police Commissioner could come on national television and make such empty statements it makes citizens feel more insecure, legitimises criminal activity and holds the victim of a crime accountable for someone else’s callous actions.
If we are to go by Mr Philbert’s logic then I can only conclude some of the following:
- Pretty soon the police will be issuing travel advisories to tourists telling them to stay away from Trinidad and Tobago as their presence would create an opportunity for criminals
- Citizens will be told not to drive into the city with their vehicles as this would create an opportunity for the criminals to steal them
- Citizens will be told not to buy houses as this would create an opportunity for criminals to break into them
- Citizens will be told not to wear nice clothes as this would give the impression that they have money and create the opportunity for criminals to rob them
Truth be told, the successful lives of ordinary working-class people in this country is by itself a lucrative opportunity for criminal minds who prefer not to work but instead choose to live off of hard-working law abiding citizens.
Criminals are committed to being the human parasites going so far as killing their victims for their property.
If one were to consider the vast majority of murders in 2009 not many of the victims were adorned in lavish gold jewelry and many were killed in their homes.
I think the Commissioner’s time would be better spent on improving the efficiency of his men and enhancing the disgustingly low detection rate of the rubble he presides over known as the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.
Mr Philbert’s unfortunate statement is a just reflection of the dismal intellect emanating from the underperforming craniums of those charged with the responsibility of governing this country whose ideas and thought processes are completely void of any modernity.
As far as they are concerned everything that goes wrong in this country is the citizens' fault.
The only solution now is for us as a nation to "create the opportunity" for political and social innovation by removing the old political guards who are determined to keep us entrapped in a vacuum of mediocrity and psychological underdevelopment.
Oke Zachary | Woodbrook
1 comment:
well said
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