Friday, January 11, 2019

under control

I'm listening to the news and I hear this phrase being used over and over. We need to get crime under control! The news I'm listening to is mostly concerned with the City of Baltimore. Last year there was in excess of 300 homicides in the city. It is a tragic tale of death and destruction. A few cases have involved small children, babies really, shot as a by product of gang warfare and drug deals gone wrong. Distraught parents are featured in these news segments, tears streaming down their faces in anguish. These folks are appealing to the thugs to stop the shooting. The Mayor and other leaders are saying we need to get the crime under control. The City of Baltimore is searching for a new Police Commissioner. The city has had several over the last few years. The latest candidate saying he will get crime under control. What I hear all these folks saying is, we can't stop the crime, but we can limit it. So the message is, we will tolerate just so much crime before we do something about it. We will get it under control. My question is, what's that mean? How many homicides are acceptable? When do you consider crime under control? Just how much crime is the right amount, the expected amount?
 I get it, I understand the frustration of law enforcement. Yes, there are bad people that will do bad things. Crime will happen and there really is little you can do to prevent that. Crime is committed by those that choose to take that path. Crime is the result of individual choice. The reasons are as varied as the crime. You can say it is the result of poverty, lack of opportunity, education, race, ethnicity and a host of other influences. The bottom line is, it's an individual choice. In my way of thinking when you glorify this " lifestyle choice " going as far as creating a whole genre of music dedicated to those choices, you shouldn't be surprised. If you teach the children, they will believe.
 The majority of us believed in Santa Claus at one point in our lives. Why? Because the adults told us so and there was a promise of reward for believing. You have to believe in Santa to get presents from Santa don't you? And if you are told by your parents and other adults since birth that you are handicapped in some fashion you will grow up believing that. The validity of the claim isn't that important, only the repeating of that claim. I was told that we couldn't " afford " many things when I was a kid. What my parents were really saying was, we ain't spending our money on that. Still I believed that we couldn't afford whatever it was I wanted. Now that didn't give me license to steal  what I wanted. That wasn't a choice. I was taught that was the quickest way to jail and hell that there was, committing a crime! There wasn't an acceptable excuse for that choice. It didn't matter one bit how much the neighbor had, or how they got it. There was no discussion about what was fair. There was no presumption that I was entitled to anything. You got what you earned. Did I make bad choices? Sure did, and I paid for every one of them. I didn't like it very much but that's life, is what I was told.
 What has all that got to do with getting crime under control? I believe that is where that control has to begin. It must begin at home. That is the frustration of law enforcement. Law enforcement is concerned with punishment. Law enforcement is not about teaching values, it is about apprehending and punishing those that offend. The offender is aware that they have committed a crime. It was their choice to risk being caught at it, just like a kid stealing a piece of candy when Mom ain't looking. It is a matter of risk and reward. I get it, being a moral person isn't much of a reward is it? Morality doesn't pay the rent or feed your family. There is truth in that and it can't be denied. Still there have been plenty of moral people that were poor. So just what is the answer? We have to teach the children that the only thing between them and success is hard work, dedication and ethical conduct. Parents have to do the work before the Police are forced to intervene.
 I watch the news and see what is happening in the cities. I watch the news and see the spread of that to the suburbs. I see the acceptance of crime as a matter of course. Excuses are made, no one is blamed, it just happens that way. And now the Police are supposed to do what? How are they supposed to get crime under control? It's not going to happen with a task force, it's not going to happen with swat teams, it's not going to happen by any administrative means. Crime will get under control when people are taught to control themselves. That is the bottom line. I sure wish I had an answer to even a small piece of this mess. I have none, just observations.     

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