Police officers are called on to settle disputes, save lives, be counselors, deliver babies, act as security guards, securing many who should be left to their own evil devices and do a plethora of other tasks.
Officers are expected to be all things to all people.
And just in case you forgot, they are expected to run toward the bullets when everyone else is running away.
In today’s societies, they are also required to be babysitters, it is instructive to note that even when they do the babysitting and gather up the unwanted, unprotected children and place them in the only place they have to place them, there are those who criticize them for placing them in jail cells.
The idea that cops should always be on the lookout for straying unprotected children is one thing, the idea that they should not be placed in jails is another.
This issue is now off the table as there are now so-called places of safety which cater to those needs.
It is against the background of parents reneging on their core responsibilities to be good stewards of the children they bring into the world that these problems still linger.
There is a serious crisis as it relates to the way children are being cared for, which will only be fixed by serious legislation which attaches adequate punitive components for parents who leave minor children alone to fend for themselves.
The police cannot be expected to babysit people’s children and take care of the other functions they are asked to attend to.
This crime wave the country is presently engulfed in will only be exacerbated if these minor children are left to their own devices.
Against that background Superintendent of police in charge of the Parish of Manchester, Wayne Cameron told a meeting of the Manchester Council
“We do make the effort to get our students off the road, but I just want to say to you that parental responsibilities must not really rest with the police. Parents really need to take a hold of their children and if they are to get home by a certain time then that is really the responsibility of the mother and father.”
Superintendent Cameron was responding to a member of the parish council who wanted an update on the curfew orders in place for children to be off the street by a designated time.
The idea that curfews and continued pressure on the police to fix every problem are unrealistic on the front end.
As crime continues to escalate it is imperative that those in power recognize that the children who roam the streets unprotected today are the killers of tomorrow.
There is much talk within the public spaces about social intervention as it relates to dealing with crime.
There is an old Jamaican proverb which says “you cannot bend a grown tree,“If social intervention is to be added to the range of tools aimed at correcting the nation’s downward trajectory now is the time to do it.
Social intervention is uptown jargon which rolls of the lying deceptive tongues of those within the elitist class who govern and shape policy. It is-is a distant concept which absolves them from the hard work of actual governance.
Taking care of the youth through the processes which ensure that those who bring children into the world take care of them, makes social intervention a practical concept rather than an intellectual argument.
Many of the nation’s leaders at lower levels of the food chain should in actuality be at the apex of the pyramid.