EDITORIAL - Curfew cannot work by itself alone

Imposing a curfew is good in that it can help partly solve the problem posed by rising criminality. But to truly solve the problem of criminality, or at least reduce it to tolerable levels, a number of other things need to be done alongside the imposition of a curfew.

The proposed curfew is only directed at minors, meaning only at a segment of that part of the population that is inclined to commit crimes. The criminally-bent part of the population 18 years old and above cannot be compelled to stay indoors at a certain period determined by curfew.

In other words, even with curfew imposed, there will still be a substantial part of the criminally-bent segment of the population who will be out there in the streets preying on the rest of society.

And even with curfew imposed, there is no guarantee that none of those covered will not be able to slip out and thus perhaps commit crimes. The best anyone can hope for is that crimes committed by the target sector can be minimized.

And this is where law enforcement comes in. For of what use will be the curfew if the curfew is implemented haphazardly and half-heartedly. If it has to be imposed at all, let it be a no-nonsense campaign.

That settled, the authorities must next address the most obvious thing — proliferation of guns. There is a deluge of guns out there because the authorities have done almost nothing to stop the proliferation of guns at the source.

It is no secret where they come from. The big mystery is why, armed with the knowledge, nothing has been done about it. There can be no successful drive against criminality if guns, the weapon of choice of criminals, are allowed to freely get into the hands of anybody.

And then there is the lack of hesitation by criminals to use the guns that easily fall into their hands. We have seen tragic examples of how, for a cheap cellphone, a human life can quickly be snuffed out by criminals who have totally been stripped of any conscience.

This aspect of criminality goes all the way to the doorstep of the Church, who supposed shepherds have forgotten their basic mission and often get caught doing other things, such as engaging in politics, or worse, setting very bad examples like sexually molestation.