Deal with all levels of crime

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has made it his mission to come down hard on the escalating crime rate.

Last week the front page of The National had the headline “PM declares war on crime” and the story listed five points or measures that the prime minister would implement in the soonest possible timeframe.

Heading these measures was implementation of the death penalty, life sentences or longer prison terms for rapists, the repealing of the Sorcery Act, a mandatory 20-year sentence for breaching a provincial or state liquor ban and lengthy incarceration for drug-related offences.

These measures have been endorsed and approved by the National Executive Council and will become law in due course.
A press statement from the prime minister yesterday said: “The NEC has approved a legislative action plan to address rising community concerns about high levels of violent crimes in the country.”
O’Neill said laws would be drafted to increase the penalties for violent crimes such as rape and murder.

The NEC met and authorised the attorney-general to bring the proposed laws to parliament when it gathers in two weeks.
The proposed laws will clear hurdles so the death penalty is implemented.
The methods discussed to dispense capital punishment include death by firing squad, which was considered more humane and less expensive than other methods.

The death penalty has been in existence since independence but has never been implemented.
The reasons have not been clear but one can only assume a lack of political will to follow through has been the reason.
Interestingly these extreme measures did not include action against white-collar crimes which one could argue would cause just as much damage, if not more, to the country.

One of the biggest pro­blems with fighting crime in all its various forms is that we lack a strong police force.
The police need to be gi­ven the capacity to manage crime.

This is the logical step to take – to do a proper job, one must have the proper equipment.
Not  only that, the tool must be in good working condition otherwise the job cannot be done.
If O’Neill is serious about quelling crime, he must raise the abilities of the Royal PNG Constabulary.
It is that simple.

This is by no means an easy task but it is one that must be done because simply increasing penalties is unlikely to work in the long run if the police force cannot support the changes.

Today, people are motiva­ted to act in ways that show that there is a distinct lack of respect for the rule of law.
We are loyal to our tribes rather than to the flag.
The first thing our lawmakers must realise is that they need to be real agents of change in their communities and provinces.

A leader cannot demand that the people follow the laws and abide by a moral code when he or she lives a life contrary to what they preach.

This hypocrisy will only engender a lasting distrust of government and authority by the man on the street.
If these harsher laws come to fruition, then we must ask that similar penalties be meted out for crimes such as the theft and embezzlement of public money, corrupt practices by department heads and indeed parliamentarians.
We cannot have a raft of changes to address one end of the scale and not the other.

In many ways the rampant corruption that exists today has actually contributed to a weakened police and justice system.

Why can’t the government improve the police force to a degree that it can do its job?

Why don’t we have enough uniformed officers on duty at stations?

Why should investigators have their cases fall apart because they lack the means to gather the evidence?

Why isn’t our police force and correctional services operating at top efficiency?

Why are there constant jail breaks from these supposedly secure institutions?

There are myriad problems in the departments that are there to manage and control crime.

We must address those issues first, otherwise measures such as those outlined above will not be effective.

OP/ED