Criminology is the scientific and empirical study of the socio-structural causes and effects of crime and criminality.
Classical criminology reckons that it is society that creates favourable conditions for crime and criminality. In that regard, it then becomes the sole responsibility of modern society to prevent and combat crime. The underlying paradox is that society should persistently strive to solve its own social problems and mishaps. In the professional discourse of criminal justice it is professed that “crime prevention is the responsibility of every citizen”. There are some citizens who are obsessed with blaming the police for the occurrence and commission of crime in society. These citizens maintain that it is the sole responsibility of the police to prevent crime in our communities. This “blame-the-police” obsession is mainly caused and fuelled by lack of relevant knowledge about crime and criminality. It is gravely incorrect and excessively misleading to seek to apportion all the blame for crime on the police. Without the full cooperation of citizens, the police will never win the war against crime and criminals. We must bear in mind that criminals did not fall from the sky like rain. Community residents usually have full knowledge about people who commit crimes in their respective areas. Unfortunately, most residents lack courage to tip-off the police about notorious criminals in their areas. The police are not prophets, they can’t prophesise on who commits crime and who does not. Citizens should always serve as the eyes and ears of the police. Our criminal jurisprudence permits citizens to secretly inform the police about any person who commits crime. Some residents’ reason is that there are some unscrupulous police officers who secretly connive with criminals. Because of that, those residents are scared of tipping off the police about criminals in their communities. It is true that there are some few dishonest, greedy and corrupt officers in the police force. This reality applies to all policing agencies across the world. This few corrupt officers should never be allowed to tarnish the excellent work done by many honest police officers. Citizens should continuously work hand in hand with the police in preventing and combating crime. In the same spirit, citizens should also identify and report greedy and corrupt police officers to their station commanders. Together we can join hands and swiftly remove all marauding criminals from our streets. Together we can protect our women and children from predatory abusers, monstrous rapists and sexual predators. Together we can contribute to and faithfully preach the gospel of social crime prevention. Our families, churches, schools and the media should actively contribute to crime prevention. We must also abandon the “blame-the-police” obsession because it would never eliminate crime in our society. And as residents, we should vigorously assist the police in their quest to create a peaceful, harmonious and crime-free society.
Elvis Masoga, political analyst
