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Safety and crime reduction Printable Version PRINTABLE VERSION
by PRINCE C.J. BENJAMIN, Nigeria May 6, 2008
Peace & Conflict   Opinions
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A “safe” thing, according to the dictionary definition, is something that does not cause harm or danger, or is a lock against danger. Safety is the state of being safe from harm or danger. There is this certainty that anything can happen at any time, but what exactly will happen is uncertain to us. This simply means that danger is everywhere in every thing we do in our daily activities in the world, and it can occur at anytime. No one can boast of absolute safety, because danger is not a respecter of any person. It affects the rich, poor, children and adults.

People hardly travel with their minds at rest, people hardly sleep with two eyes closed, and people are always careful about the kinds of words they say in public. We do good things hiding our identity because of fear of harm. There are places we don’t go and foods we don’t eat. There are people we do not associate with. In fact there are many things we don’t do, not because we don’t want to do them, but because of fear of the unknown.

We need safety in all aspects of life but, as a matter of fact, there cannot be absolute safety in our world today. There can only be a level to which safety can be promoted, and I have a few ideas. My ideas of how safety can be promoted in my city are admittedly idealistic, but one has to reach for the skies and aspire for the seemingly unachievable in order to make significant changes.

I will seriously campaign for peace starting from individuals to families, kindred, communities, and then in different parts of my city. I apply all reachable tools of peacemaking and even go for peacemaking causes, if I have the resources, so that I will be an expert in peace making. If peace reigns in my city, love will increase and where there is love there is also trust. If we can trust one another, danger will decrease and safety will increase.

Since we need peace in all aspects of life, I will organize programs at intervals; from schools to churches, communities and beyond. I will invite professionals in different professions (such as business, driving, banking, medical, food, pregnancy and child delivery, insurance, self security etc) to teach on safety. Based on their respective professions, they will educate the people of my city on diverse ways of being safe from danger or harm. I will campaign for a mutual and close relationship between law enforcement agents and the people of my city to enable the effective discharge of law enforcement services. This will earn us a certain amount of safety.

In addition, I will make it my duty to write and dispatch letters to God’s churches in my city to always pray to God for safety, and I will make it one of my early Morning Prayer points. With these few ideas, I believe that my city will enjoy safety at a higher level.

My next priority is the reduction of crime among the youth. Crime an illegal action for which a person can be punished by the law. Many youths have fallen the victims of crime, and therefore have been seriously punished by human and natural law. Most youth that die in the act of crime leave no tangible and positive achievement behind. Many families have been negatively affected because of some illegal act committed by their children.

One true thing is that most youth who indulge in crime do it either because they do not have good job or because they have no job at all- an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. Some find pleasure in committing crime.

To reduce youth crime in my neighborhood, I will form a team of young people to help me create jobs for youth of all levels, including those who have not seen the inside walls of a classroom. I already have a skill-acquisition school where youth are trained in different skills.

I will open a company where paint, ice cream, soap, and beads will be produced. In the company there will be other departments such as web-designing, e-business, fish ponds, snail farming, art works, a hair-dressing salon and barber shop. I will employ youth who have been trained inside or outside of my school. They will not need any academic qualifications to get employed. All I will ask for are their skills and ideas. I will also encourage the youth in my neighborhood who have acquired the skills to start their own business, no matter hw little. I will try as much as I can to empower them financially if I have the money.

For those who refuse to change and choose to be life-time crime-committers, I will apply some enforcement and security measures to ensure that they will be brought to book. I will go beyond the use of police, and employ professional detectives and anti-crime secret agents to monitor and investigate the youth’s activities in my neighborhood.

When youths who commit crime are apprehended and convicted, I will not suffer them to die in prison. For me, prison should be a place where lives are shaped and remolded for good. My team will organize skill-acquisition training in the prison yard three times a month to empower the youths with the knowledge of different types of skills. When they acquire these skills, they can start making money for themselves right inside the walls. Gradually their mind-sets will change and they will turn a new leaf.





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PRINCE C.J. BENJAMIN


Prince C.J. Benjamin is a 25 year old man from Abia state in Nigeria. He is into eradicating poverty and extreme hunger and combating cybercrime. He is the founder of the COALITION FOR ERADICATION OF POVERTY, an NGO.
Comments


Very nice
david mbitu | Jun 7th, 2008
Hi brother. nice to read about your project and I wish you all the best in the same. actual Im in that line studying Criminology. Its a nice course which really educate and helps one to understand crime scientifically as a social phenomenon. Crime is a nature and in its cope comprises of making of laws, breaking of law and the society reaction to the breaking of law. there would be no crime without laws, so maybe we can start by first understanding the process of making the laws putting into consideration the roles of criminal justice agencies, the societal factors which includes the institutions such as family,schools,church and the neighbourhood e.t.c I think looking at your intended team its okay and it will be succesful Crime is not a demonic factor as you says coz it aslo have some positive aspets in a given society. maybe next time i will expound on that but the truth is that we all need safety and we need to reform the criminality behavoiurs of our brothers and sisters as well as treating them with dignity.the question ishow do we do iit? .

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