Publicado el 08-31-2010
Without Security,
there is no Freedom
Many years ago, between 1953 and 1965, for example, security in the Miami metropolitan area was significant. People were confident that robberies, assaults and murders were things that existed, relatively, but they were not considered “normal” happenings in the city. Some people believe that as a city’s population grows so does crime. This is relative. It is obvious that population increase has a negative impact, but if that increase in population is accompanied by tolerance on the part of the authorities toward the criminals, the problem is alarmingly serious.
In the first stages, when crime began to grow, private security companies were organized to guard stores, shops and businesses in general. At the beginning this had more or less satisfactory results. However, after some time these measures were not enough to control the robberies and assaults. Naturally, there were more criminals and the number of police officers was not in keeping with the number of criminals. In those days there were policemen on motorcycles, and also mounted police in some areas. There were also policemen, as in the Allapatah neighborhood, that had beats that covered several blocks. All this security system had to be eliminated as the lives of the policemen were in jeopardy because of the aggressiveness of the criminals. This means that crime has increased in alarming ways that go beyond the argument that there is a bigger population.
If there is not a reasonable minimum of public safety, even in a democracy, liberty does not necessarily function. And this is so because if it is not safe to go about the streets, although this not be forbidden, one can not do so since that would mean risking one’s life. The same thing happens if one were to decide to sit outside in the front porch for a while. Something similar is seen in the huge parking lots in shopping malls where it is dangerous to walk from the stores to one’s parked car. In all these situations although freedom is not hindered by the authorities, it can not be truly enjoyed.
Every possible effort should be made, in spite of many difficulties, to restore a reasonable minimum of security in Miami-Dade’s public thoroughfares.
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