Press Release
November 30, 2012

Cayetano urges government to invest more on Crime Prevention

Senate minority leader Alan Peter Cayetano urged the government to focus its attention on the worsening peace and order situation in the country. Cayetano stressed that at the heart of law enforcement is the swift and efficient meting out of punishment to criminals and would-be criminals.

He cited Singapore as an example in explaining that when criminals know that they will be caught, the fear is enough to prevent them from committing crimes.

"Underlying all of these is the belief that they will not be caught. Whether it is one day, one year, one hundred days or the death penalty, if they think that criminals will not get caught then the penalties mean nothing. Even if we had a bigger penalty, if criminals think they can get away with their actions then nothing will happen," he said.

The senator noted that one way to address this problem is to provide our law enforcers with better facilities, equipment and pay.

"Even without increasing the number of policemen, we can address the issues of the present crop of policemen and law enforcers by increasing their benefits and pay. By doing this, we can actually indirectly address the peace and order situation and save money at the same time," he said. The minority leader suggested that the country's officials also turn to the use of closed circuit television (CCTV) to stop crime and to prevent it from happening in the future.

"We can also address our problems by turning to technology. CCTVs are now devices that are getting us the results we want. Merely having a CCTV deters crime. Just having lights and CCTVs addresses the issue of crime," he said.

He explained that there is a need to address the root causes of the rising incidence of crime and that until we do so crime will never be truly prevented.

"One is poverty that we should address through good economic poverty alleviation. The other one is drugs. Most crimes are drug-related. Lastly, greed. Unless you go after the root cause, we will never be rid of crimes," he said.

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