Public unsafety

Discussions about safety have become surreal, since the idea of safety in cities is completely utopian and unreal.  Safety has been the most damaged of all basic needs, to the extent that in some cases the minimum requirements for living in a community are absent. 

There are plenty of reasons for us to be concerned about this issue.  Every day we watch news coverage of robberies, kidnappings, stray bullets, murders, gang wars, drug trafficking, corrupt cops and senseless violence happening anytime and anywhere.

The feeling we have is that the government has lost the ability to keep society safe, especially due to the lack of an effective national public safety policy.  More and more people are locking themselves inside their houses while the outlaws run around the streets free to threaten us.

So what is public safety? It is comprised of organizations, usually governmental, that are entrusted with removing any danger or harm that may threaten the public order, whether the threat is to the life, liberty or ownership rights of any citizen.  Public safety can restrict individual freedoms so that each citizen’s rights – even in those activities not restricted by law – do not infringe upon the freedom of others.

This concept of public safety is broad and is not limited to crime fighting policies or restricted only to police activity.   It is responsible for establishing all actions that repress violence and crime and for offering active incentives so that citizens can live, work and have fun in society.

All entities, whether individuals or businesses in the private or public sector, are responsible for public safety and must ensure public order.  If there are breaches to this process, some kind of crime will be identified which should be repressed by the public safety authorities.  Depending on the level of administration this may be the Brazilian Federal Police, the State Police – both Civil and Military - or the Municipal Guard.

At first, this vast police infrastructure at the different levels of government may seem adequate to provide the necessary safety to the population.  However, this would be jumping to a wrong conclusion. Each of these organizations works in a manner that is uncoordinated with the others; they have territorial disputes and a negative opinion of each other.

Additionally, the fact that wages are inadequate attracts uneducated people, usually from low-income populations, to work in law enforcement.  Thus, they are given little encouragement to grow; this is the profile of the people who are to ensure our safety.  It is necessary to describe this profile.

We read in the papers stories about police brutality and even instances of police-caused deaths in the population they were supposed to protect.   Such cases make us more afraid and apprehensive and, at times, wondering where the greatest danger lies.

In a country with a high rate of corruption, the existing impunity encourages the unreasonable perception that crime pays and may be a valid path to follow.  The combination of these two factors, public insecurity and impunity, causes tremendous damage in the development of youths, who are the adults of tomorrow, creating a vicious circle in the problem.

Everyone in society and government has to start rethinking this sad national situation; we must immediately propose to the powers that be, whether in the private or public sector, the necessary changes so that we can ensure our safety and that of our families, and thus build an ethical, honest and safe society.