Scavenger looting

Two recent looting incidents involving groceries have drawn attention.

According to one report, “the police have since deduced that there may be a gang of hungry bandits targeting places so they can loot from them following a fire.” On Monday, the Benefit the People Supermarket on the Eastern Main Road, Barataria, was looted after it was set on fire. Days earlier, the burnt-out premises of the D&J Budget Mart at Prizgar Road, San Juan, was looted following a fire on November 21.

The premises had been secured by a security firm but looters pounced after they were removed.

We condemn these incidents of looting in the strongest possible terms. They represent the kind of lawlessness that must be nipped in the bud before it gets out of hand.

The State cannot risk having more people join the seeming free-for-all. It must deter by imposing the fullest brunt of the law.

If the looters – many of whom were captured on video circulated on social media – are not apprehended, the message sent will be clear: looters can get away with crime. This is similar to the failure to penalise motorists who drive on the shoulders of the highways and who break red lights.

But it is not only the State that has a role to play in deterrence and enforcement of the law.

Law-abiding citizens, too, must play their part in identifying the looters.

They cannot simply wash their hands of the actions of members of their community and leave it up to the police to find them. We need to take back our country.

Let’s stop the moaning and groaning about crime in general and murders in particular being out of hand.

Let’s work with the police to get murderers off the street so that innocent people can feel safe again. If you know the looters, if you know the bandits, if you know the killers, talk to the police.

People in some quarters are blaming the economic situation for the looting. If that is so things will only get worse.

But we see little evidence to justify the claim that the economy is the root cause of the breakdown of law and order on Monday and Saturday. We are not enduring the kinds of conditions that prevail currently in, say, Venezuela.

The real cause is the feeling that the State will not be able to take any effective action, be it through criminal proceedings or through preventative measures.

There is also the failure of communities to police themselves: people are harbouring criminals and encouraging a culture of crass opportunism. In fact, some are deliberately encouraging the scavenging.

Where are we heading as a society if we allow the looting and wanton murders to continue? It must also be remarked that one of the premises targeted by criminals is, yet again, Chinese owned and operated.

What does it mean for us as a society and as an economy if we allow the apparent targeting of Chinese businesses to continue? It’s time to say no more.

And if the police under normal circumstances are unable to stem the unacceptable rise in murders, maybe a state of emergency is necessary — as Pastor Clive Dottin called for on Wednesday — to tackle the out-of-control crime problem.

Let’s delay no longer.