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“[…] To what extent are those of us who abide by certain values and even endorse restorative justice and mediation required to continue to suffer in silence?
“We are being exploited, demeaned, robbed, attacked and taken advantage of by persons whose main objective is to separate us from our property—so that they may indulge in selling off our belongings cheaply to feed a drug habit or realise gains from property that does not belong to them…”
The following Letter to the Editor, submitted to Wired868 by Anthony Gafoor, expresses frustration at the perceived TTPS and public responses to home invasions:
To what extent are we required to turn the other cheek or to forgive those who invade our homes and privacy, attack, maim or murder our families and deprive us of our hard-earned property?
Anyone caught up in this spiral of crime gripping our country must wonder whether we are simply to install more expensive burglar proofing, camera systems, acquire aggressive dogs and literally take up arms against those who persecute us. We are being victimised by strapping young men, in most instances, who are not interested in gainful employment but plan the most heinous attacks on our families and our homes.
To what extent are those of us who abide by certain values and even endorse restorative justice and mediation required to continue to suffer in silence?
We are being exploited, demeaned, robbed, attacked and taken advantage of by persons whose main objective is to separate us from our property—so that they may indulge in selling off our belongings cheaply to feed a drug habit or realise gains from property that does not belong to them.
Are we as members of this society who are subject to the most humiliating crimes during home invasions required to accept that we will never see our property again? And to simply pass it off as ‘This is Trinidad’ and thus allow complacency to set in when an overworked police force is so overwhelmed by the volume of crime that we are required to conduct our own enquiries and to wait like a sitting duck to be the lamb led to slaughter?
The justification to overlook an economic crime associated with a home invasion on the basis that we must forgive and move on smacks of defeat or wilting under the pressure. We must accept that we will never be reunited with our belongings because the police are our only frontline protection and they are perceived as not giving as much priority to such crimes.
Enough is enough. We need to take back our country by any means necessary while supporting rehabilitation of such offenders. But at the end of the day, we are entitled to expect to be kept safe and not worry whether we are acting uncharitably by insisting that victimhood should never be a way of life and that we are entitled to strike back.
Ultimately, this society can preach all it wants about forgiveness. But this needs tempering.
Perpetrators must not just be offered a chance to turn their life around but also to express remorse for their actions and to be adequately punished for the permanent deprivation to victims—even as we are encouraged to accept that we should protect ourselves as much as our pockets allow during this time of Covid and Carnival.
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