supersunbird
Honorary Master
Die warm temps buite laat my bloed te maklik kook, sorry.
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How to sort crime out?
- Thread starter marine1
- Start date
supersunbird
Honorary Master
yes, direct crime victim. Cost me R2000 insurance excess to fix damages, and havent had money to replace a R1500 stolen item...
Reason I'm asking and since this thread is about sorting out crime here's an idea the the formites can discuss. Just listened to Mbeki in that BBC documentary where he was saying people cannot prove crime is out of hand and it reminded me of an article I read about a pothole messaging system in England (I think) where people send an MMS to some site if they found a pothole on the road.
So I'm suggesting a forum/blog type of site where people can post or message if they are at a crime scene or have been a crime victim.
Sure there would be a few things to iron out this since we'll have to ensure ppl don't make bogus postings(typical forum moderation issues!!!)
A good idea or a no go or has it been done already ????
Tamagotchi
Well-Known Member
Been a victim myself early in January (hi-jacking).
Now my comment:
Saw a cop car with a female driver in it, about 55 years old , I don't think she was a cop (was in civvies) and don't think a detective either. Small child child in school uniform in the back and another woman (younger, about 35) on the passenger seat.
Now at this stage I wish I had my camera phone (which was stolen) to take a pic of the people inside and also the car's number, do you guys think this will help? Because that sight really pee-ed me off.
And also why do the cops drive those expensive cars ( Audis , Subaru and so on.) Do they get sponsored with those ? Okay I do agree that certain units require fast cars to perform their jobs. But I don't want my tax money being spent on cars that I can't even afford to be given to just any cop.
Now my comment:
Saw a cop car with a female driver in it, about 55 years old , I don't think she was a cop (was in civvies) and don't think a detective either. Small child child in school uniform in the back and another woman (younger, about 35) on the passenger seat.
Now at this stage I wish I had my camera phone (which was stolen) to take a pic of the people inside and also the car's number, do you guys think this will help? Because that sight really pee-ed me off.
And also why do the cops drive those expensive cars ( Audis , Subaru and so on.) Do they get sponsored with those ? Okay I do agree that certain units require fast cars to perform their jobs. But I don't want my tax money being spent on cars that I can't even afford to be given to just any cop.
Yes - I was attacked on my way to my car - in the parking basement at a very busy shopping center. And there was 2 cash in transit heists in the neighbourhood in the last three months - one in the road in which I live.
There was a website where crime was documented and portrayed, but the site was started by a publicity seeking pratt who lied about who he is/was on several occasions and I think he even defrauded a few people. As far as I know he also used faked pictures on his website or stolen pictures or something like that. But the site was also attacked on several occasions and various people trying to start similar endeavours quickly stopped for whatever reason. I think this guy kind of damaged any credibility of such websites, existing and future. It's also something that can very easily be abused in my opinion.
So, if credibility challenge was sorted out do you think the idea would work? That is, could it really expose how bad crime is. Yes, fake content would be the biggest problem but there are a couple of steps that could be taken to address that.
1) Get a credible backer for the site, there must be an big organisation out there with huge interest in fighting crime. But advertising would NOT allowed.
2) All content that's sent would to have minimum backup information like the address of where the incident took place and that would increase the possibility of having more than one person sending a pic.
3) Go through a checklist before loading content to the site. The accuracy of the content would be the site's priority not posting content immediately.
How else would such a system be abused? Definitely if the site starts it would be controversial hence it will need proper planning before launching!
iMonga: it's a good idea that won't fly for the following reasons:
1. Less than 1% of the country's population has access to the internet
2. Crime is not biased to one ethnic group in SA, but the overwhelming majority of Internet users in this country belong to a few - minority - ethnic groups
3. Personal accounts of crime are topically adequate but descriptively lacking, so once you capture the description of what happened, it may only be half the truth of what actually happened
4. It's a time consuming job to run a website, and unfortunately unless there is at least some remuneration, costs will eventually lead to the shutdown of the website
5. There is a real possibility that the website could be sabotaged by certain interest groups. FNB's ad campaign was stopped in its tracks after such interest groups convinced them to pull the plug - so this is a very real threat
6. Such a website is deemed unpatriotic - even by opposition parties, as it could damage the image of South Africa quite severely.
1. Less than 1% of the country's population has access to the internet
2. Crime is not biased to one ethnic group in SA, but the overwhelming majority of Internet users in this country belong to a few - minority - ethnic groups
3. Personal accounts of crime are topically adequate but descriptively lacking, so once you capture the description of what happened, it may only be half the truth of what actually happened
4. It's a time consuming job to run a website, and unfortunately unless there is at least some remuneration, costs will eventually lead to the shutdown of the website
5. There is a real possibility that the website could be sabotaged by certain interest groups. FNB's ad campaign was stopped in its tracks after such interest groups convinced them to pull the plug - so this is a very real threat
6. Such a website is deemed unpatriotic - even by opposition parties, as it could damage the image of South Africa quite severely.
yes of course costs are the biggest deterrent and sabotage will always be challenge.
So if the president is asking for proof that crime is out of hand, and getting the proof eventually damages the country's image you say. Then anyone who gets him the proof is doing the country a disservice?
Would it be fair to say the citizens depend on politicians taking steps that deal with crime and given the politicians' assertion crime is not a out of hand such steps will not be taken ??
No, the biggest deterrent is that a tiny percentage of South Africans have the ability and means to use the Internet.
The president has the proof - he just denied that crime is so rampant that people can be killed at any moment. So he is a denialist.
Yes! The government is tasked with the security of the citizens of this country both by mandate of its elected representation and by protection in the constitution. Protection of the citizens of this country is a right we as citizens should demand. Politicians are not the government - parliament is. Politicians are inevitably corrupted when left unchecked, and that is our problem today: The politicians are reaping huge rewards by trying to rule a country for their own benefit, whereas they should be serving the electorate.
Besides corruption I still don't get what government is gaining by denying the crime problem.
Given that crime is affecting the electorate how come does it seem they are not putting pressure on the government to act? Let's not go to "they must vote the ANC out of power coz that's not going to happen(at least in the next 20 years or so). Can't the electorate for example put political pressure on the president's beloved municipalities to do more about crime?
Governments spend more money than any company ever can. A lot of that money comes in the form of foreign trade agreements, which will stop or slow or become very expensive unless the foreigners are at least somewhat satisfied that things are going ok. Mbeki is ironically right in one thing - it's a perception, but not with the citizens - with the international community - that's the one that counts. Mbeki doesn't give a **** about the people in this country - he is never here.
Because the electorate is under the impression that the government cares. Governments don't care. Governments especially don't care when they're guaranteed power. The electorate are extremely naive, and they treat the "leaders" of the country as Superstars. And let's face it, when you treat someone as a Superstar, even if they **** up real bad, they will still be your Superstar. Here's an example: compare T-Bone or JZ to a movie star. They're treated the same and lead similar lifestyles (Don't spend money on anything, have massive entourages, have security details, fly private jets, stay in the best hotels and most of all - make millions for their names. Heck, some even have sex and drug scandals to boot)
And with that you have concrete proof of guaranteed power. Why do anything when you are assured to stay in power. **** crime, it costs too much money to eradicate - rather rename a stadium or airport after your latest hero. Immortality was pursued by the Greeks and the Romans thousands of years ago by building statues and creating "gods" and naming them in accordance of their "great and mighty" leaders. Clearly history is hell bent on repeating itself at every opportunity.
mhhhh you would have a difficult time in convincing the people Mbeki doesn't give a hoot about the country and him not being around a lot does not prove that, would you say then Mandela cared about the country ?
Yep I do also believe they know they are guaranteed power for a while. When crime eventually goes out of hand it would lead to instability and the former government fat cats would be seen as the responsible parties for the instability and the same masses who supported them would turn against them . An analogy would be what happened with the old Ciskei government where Oupa Gqozo was once seen as a hero when he took over Sebe's government and was the people's instant hero for a while. Then the situation got messy after the Bisho massacre and people turned against him !
marine1
Honorary Master
7 Armed robberies in my complex in the space of 4 months. 1 Shootout outside my complex. 1 hijacked car recovered down my road.
This morning, coming out of the spar-thing near me, I saw a petty thief being chased down by store personnel. He was caught and literally dragged back into the store to wait for the police. This is breadline crime, though.
Lord Anubis
Expert Member
How to stop crime??
Well why not learn from other countries!!
Firstly you need a huge well armed, well paid police force then you need :
Capital punishment (Death by any means) for :
- Armed Robbery incl gun trafficking
- Rape
- Murder (incl attempted murder & assault with intent to murder)
- Child Abuse
- Drug Trafficking
- Home invasion incl Kidnapping
- Reckless endangerment of others lives (e.g. speeding/D.U.I)
Capital punishment (Amputation of both hands) for :
- Theft (incl Fraud)
- Breaking and Entry
That should about do it, or perhaps we could just put up a website blah blah blah or pray (that's really helped a lot so far!!??).
Probably safer in Iran now than it is here!!
Well why not learn from other countries!!
Firstly you need a huge well armed, well paid police force then you need :
Capital punishment (Death by any means) for :
- Armed Robbery incl gun trafficking
- Rape
- Murder (incl attempted murder & assault with intent to murder)
- Child Abuse
- Drug Trafficking
- Home invasion incl Kidnapping
- Reckless endangerment of others lives (e.g. speeding/D.U.I)
Capital punishment (Amputation of both hands) for :
- Theft (incl Fraud)
- Breaking and Entry
That should about do it, or perhaps we could just put up a website blah blah blah or pray (that's really helped a lot so far!!??).
Probably safer in Iran now than it is here!!
Xarog
Honorary Master
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Funny, I thought Iran wasn't the model country in the grand scheme of things...
For the record, I don't support amputations for things like theft, and although it may be effective, the punishment does NOT fit the crime.
Debbie
Banned
An interesting comment from Ferial Haffajee's (M&G) who says we need to "grow the citizen chorus" against crime (I agree)-
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=298624&area=/insight/insight__comment_and_analysis/
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=298624&area=/insight/insight__comment_and_analysis/