Un-Commissioned

Greetings one and all. I hope that the holiday season passed safely for you all. Here in Trinidad, there were many who were missing safety from their season. Indeed, it seems that to crime there is no end in sight. My question is how can their be?
It becomes easy for the public to blame the police, since they are in charge of crime some of the responsibility lies with them but not all of it. The entire population, young and old, must accept responsibility for crime being where it is. The police service is not omnipresent nor omniscient, they cannot be in all places at all times nor can they know all things. Yet to hold policemen fully responsible for crime is to assume both of these things.
This, however, is not a vindication for a police force that is sluggish, corrupt, and misleading. How is it that a gas station can be robbed on a main road, separated from the police station by one building. Yet when the gas station attendant runs to the station to alert the police of the robbery, he is told 'We have no vehicles.' How does that man feel, after he just run to alert them and no one is willing to run back with him to assist?
Commissioner Paul made an appeal for public support very early into the new year. Indeed, a crucial aspect to getting a handle on crime. After this appeal, however, he authorized the raiding of Beetham Gardens and Chafford Courts in Port-of-Spain. Both of these areas are low-income and do have criminal elements residing in them. Yet, the warrant-less search of residences, the ransacking of homes and violence used toward residents does anything but build public support. Ironically enough, these are the very areas where public support needs to be built. The police need residents in the Beetham to be confident that they treat suspected individuals fairly or else how will they receive valuable information? If public support is raised in higher income areas like Lange Park or West Moorings or Valsayn or Gulf View, how does this help when, largely, criminal elements tend to come from lower income areas?
No Commissioner Paul, your approach is wrong. The support that you pleaded for has to come from the low income areas, you already have the high income area support since they want you to do your job and protect their investments and homes. In the low income areas, where people do not have, there is a higher chance of criminal activity. A higher chance of a young man consciously deciding to join a gang. How can his grandmother feel about turning him in when not more than a week ago your officers broke down her door and ransacked her house? Will she feel like the police will rehabilitate her grandson, or will she see them as only an oppressive force that don't care about poor people? And when the poor feel uncared for, what direction is left for them to turn?
You cannot treat low-income citizens as second-class citizens simply because they live in high-risk areas. Whether or not we like it, this country's constitution affords the same rights and respect to all of its citizens, even criminals and undoubtedly those living in criminal areas. To subject these individuals to the fear and trauma that is an unexpected, early morning raid, and not even have a legal document to back it up gives the impression that the police can do what they want when they want. Just as fire brings fire, the unfair treatment will only serve to increase bitterness that will be turned against the police service and the general population. Thank you Commissioner Paul, for 'protecting and serving'.