Imagining a three to six month program to weed out illegal drugs in the city
(May 2016)
A person from a poor community, with poverty as an aggravating factor, although raised by his/her family as a law-abiding person, may learn negative values and skills from peers and acquaintances. Skills for illegal activities, such as theft or drug pushing, may be learned from others whom that person associates with. If the said individual’s social bonds with family, schools and community are weak, there is higher propensity for him/her to continue with delinquent or criminal activities. However, if the social bonds are strong, that person may feel guilt and decide to conform to family or school values such as honesty and industriousness. Elements of social control likewise have to be strong: the support of the family, community, and government/law enforcers should be there to prevent delinquency and criminality.
Deviant and criminal behavior can be eliminated by removing the rewards of bad behavior, increasing the consequences, or controlling the rewards and consequences for the behavior, to effect reformative or restorative interventions. Also, since positive behaviors reinforce positive behaviors, the rewards for positive behaviors may be encouraged, good values and new skills can be taught and learned during the intervention/counselling. For example, an accused person charged with theft can undergo counselling interventions that focus on strengthening personal values such as honesty, respect for others and property, and for skills development trainings for the said offender to learn decent ways to earn. The offender can then return to society as a reformed person who can aspire and live a decent life through decent, legal, and sustainable work or livelihood. Counselling is an essential part of character building, rehabilitation, and reform.
The effective use of social control methods may be promoted to keep individuals from committing deviant or criminal behavior. Curfew for minors and surveillance against alcohol and drug abuse go together to prevent residents from undesirable behavior, minimize crime-conducive situations or exposure to substance abuse, especially after curfew hours. Barangay officials should also constantly remind residents to obey laws/ordinances and to report abuses. These policies may work by keeping the community involved in maintaining law and order, especially for the minors.
With the broad aim of improving physical security, designing out crime and achieving tight coupling (connection) among the police, courts, corrections and the communities in the city, the problem of illegal drugs may be solved. The presence of "motivated offenders" (drug lords and dealers) and "suitable targets" (drug users/addicts), and the absence or lack of "capable guardians" or law enforcement (police and courts for drug-related crimes) are assumed. With the aim of addressing both predatory crimes and drug proliferation, the city to be secured should be equipped with high definition surveillance cameras placed in strategic locations for law enforcers (also equipped with body cameras when conducting law enforcement operations) to strictly monitor the movement of suspected drug dealers. Other criminal behaviors can also be monitored with those cameras. Civilian watchdogs and media should also have access to live video feeds.
Since the police and anti-drug groups already have the intelligence capabilities and lists of persons-of-interests in the illegal drug trade, the city can strictly enforce its laws against drugs with the help of technology: surveillance cameras, interconnected database systems, communications, educational / informational media platforms, and others. Drug users and addicts should be encouraged to enter rehabilitation programs. Likewise, facilities and personnel should be prepared for the task and supported by the government. The police and support groups are to be instructed to lawfully arrest all drug dealers and stop the drug syndicates through due process. Police work should be done properly, cases should be filed and acted upon swiftly by the courts, and the corrections should be decongested (by adding new facilities and personnel). To augment the police force and make barangay officers “capable guardians” in communities, proper trainings and greater coordination with police should be done. Residents may also play a support role in reporting undesirable elements. But more importantly for residents, community institutions such as schools and churches should effectively promote good values and avoidance of drugs or other illegal activities as part of their activities.
Scalawags and other corrupt officials in the police and military, and members of crime syndicates, should all be weeded out, arrested and prosecuted during the first three months. There should be suitable rewards for effective implementors of the program, and adequate protection for crusaders and their families. Law enforcers should address the bane of repeat offenders, abusive government officials, and perpetrators of heinous crime. However, the reimposition of the death penalty should no longer be considered as a deterrent. Certainty, rather than severity, of the penalties and effective law enforcement would deter crime and facilitate justice.
The city may be grouped into geographic sectors in weeding out drugs and syndicates, while increasing the number and capacities of police and capable guardians of the city. This may be done until the entire city is covered by the tightly coupled network of anti-drug police organizations, in cooperation with the communities, courts, and corrections.
Applying tight coupling among the police, courts, corrections, and communities, their increased coordination and capabilities to prosecute and rehabilitate offenders, can radically diminish the number of drug offenders and prevent the return or entry of other criminal elements in the city. Citizens are to be accustomed to proper safekeeping of communities and maintenance of good health among members of the community, as well as enforcement practices that strictly abide by ethical, legal, and humanitarian standards.
Illegal drugs is a global problem that may be as threatening as terrorism. It is a menace that needs remedy because it damages or destroys the lives of its victims as well as the families and friends of those affected. At the end of the program, there should already be no more motivated offenders, suitable targets/victims, and there should be more capable guardians in the city. The program may be implemented by other city units or adapted as a nationwide program. This should only be part of an integrated and holistic package that includes comprehensive structural, organizational, and cultural reforms.