The Crisis of Security Agencies

Not quite long ago in my hometown, especially in our street where my dad was the head of the community, there was an invasion of robbers. Not the ones that would attack when people were sleeping, but the ones that would wait until everyone went to work and then execute their ill work before they returned.

During this period, we had a lot of newcomers in the community. People who had newly built their houses and had brought all their family members because they heard that the community was a peaceful one, only to be met with the incessant thievery.

To curb these acts, multiple reports were made at the police station, and we were promised safety which was never worked on. I think we saw the police patrol for a week and that was it. At that point, the community members decided to take actions on their own before they graduated to killing people, so, they had the meeting.

There, the youths volunteered en mass to protect the community from these invaders. The plan was to strategically place themselves around the attacked community during the day and through the night such that nobody would notice them and some other plans, and their plans worked.

The first week, they caught one of them, and he was the son of an influential person in our town. They handed him over to the police, but he was released the week after even with pictorial evidence of how he destroyed a burglary window, and more. He was released after money changed hands. We knew at that point that our community was about to get bloody, so, the youths prepared.

I was shocked one day, when my dad dressed up in the middle of the night to join them in protecting the community, but he said, “it is the responsibility of everyone to protect what they have”.

The next four weeks was met with aggression from the robbers, which was also repelled by the community vigilantes (the youths who volunteered). When the rich people in the community realized that their actions yielded results, they donated money, resources, and everything they ever asked for. The result? All of us were protected.

Trusting the police or any forces with our security these days is like sleeping with our doors open. Even though these people are called “security forces”, they have decided to only join forces with the whoever has money or authority, while the rest of us can get killed for all they care, even if that means siding with the criminals. Imagine leaving your security in the hands of people like this?

As an individual that understands the worth of life, if I have the money, I will empower the local forces even if that means placing them on a monthly salary as long as they are doing the work that the police have failed to do.

I will support them in every way possible because through my short years on earth, they have proven to be more strategic, more intelligent, and more hardworking than the so-called forces even with the lack of resources.

I may not join them because I do not have the physical strength for that, but if I have the resources, I will definitely support the local vigilantes over the forces.

Images are from Google Gemini AI.