Building blocks to bigger crime

This Express editorial on Friday Oct 12 certainly warrants a reprint.

INCIDENT: A young woman is walking through a mall in the capital when a man sidles up to her, sticks a gun in her waist and demands the cell phone into which she was speaking. She looks towards the security guard some distance away and the thug, sensing her intent, warns that by the time the guard responds she would be dead. She asks him whether he would kill her for a cell phone but rather than risk her life she, wisely, does as he demands.

INCIDENT: A young woman is walking along the Brian Lara Promenade, Port of Spain, when she finds herself surrounded and jostled by four young men. Before she can even think of raising an alarm one of them snatches a thick gold bracelet from around her wrist, leaving it bruised and swollen.

INCIDENT: An old woman walking up to the post office at George Street, Port of Spain feels a sharp tug and the next thing she knows is that a "boy who could be mih grandson'' snatches the hand bag which she had hung over her shoulder and scampers through "The Planning" before anybody can give chase.

INCIDENT: A man returns from work one afternoon to find that his San Juan home has been broken into and his DVD player and a pair of sneakers belonging to his son stolen. On checking he finds that the thief had been able to gain entry through his roof, the burglar-proofed windows and doors preventing easier entry.

These are but four true stories of the criminal occurrences that daily take place in some part or parts of Trinidad and Tobago. In fact, they are so prevalent that they are hardly ever reported not only in the media but even to the police since the victims know only too well that there is little chance of the police responding and, even if they do, of the perpetrators being caught.

And, yet, these are the "small crimes'' that contribute to the general feeling that Trinidad and Tobago is under siege. Naturally, it is the major crimes that are highlighted by the media but heinous as, for example, murders and kidnappings are, the risk they pose to the ordinary citizen is far less than the so-called minor crimes that result in a costly loss of property and, perhaps worse, the trauma that comes with the invasion of a person's space.

This is what our magistrates should take into consideration when deciding upon fitting punishment for petty criminals and what our legislators should also consider when they set about updating the criminal law. It is not that we wish to be unnecessarily draconian but strong messages have to be sent to low-level criminals, both in a bid to protect law-abiding citizens and discourage the purse snatchers from graduating towards armed robbery - and, just possibly, kidnapping and murder.