Cops and CCTVs

AS the happy holidays of Christmas and New Year approaches, criminality also customarily spirals.

Petty thieves prowl the busy commercial areas and prey on unsuspecting and careless shoppers, more cars disappear, and burglaries of homes and shops become more common.

Big or small in value, any loss is heartbreaking and the trauma from a feeling of being violated is dreadful. The heist in Dagupan last week involving at least P10 million worth of goods from a pawnshop-jewelry store was particularly unnerving for the public not so much for the worth of what was taken but the boldness and efficiency with which it was carried out. Local government officials are also shaken such that there is now a rush to make CCTVs a required fixture in commercial establishments. Then again, as the Dagupan heist proves, criminals could be so brash that they do not worry about their faces being caught on camera.

So while CCTVs could serve as a deterrent and do help in catching criminals in some cases, the key to keeping criminality in check remains to be the police force.

Visibility, reputation and competence are fundamental. If police officers are nowhere to be seen, if they are known to coddle the crooks – or worse they are the crooks themselves, and have nothing to show in solving cases as well as catching the offenders, the public could never feel safe and criminals will simply continue to operate with impunity.

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Greed

NOTHING new there. This country has had several big-money scams before the P12-billion heist exploded last week in the Visayas and Mindanao. Victimized were about 15,000 people, many of them teachers, soldiers, retired employees and, yes, even town mayors, according to reports. Already, out of depression, three victims had reportedly committed suicide after seeing their lifetime savings evaporating into thin air.

The scam’s mastermind, of Fiipino-Malaysian descent, has used the time-tested trick: He gets your money with the promise of huge, incredibly unthinkable interest in so short a time. It’s true the first time, so you go for double the next time, even entrusting all your money. Then, like the wind, the scammer is gone. Pffft!

Indeed, a sucker is born every minute. But more than that truism is man’s innate greed. We never learn.

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