The young entrepreneur who was caught in Kaikohe last week is presumably a bearer of such little brain that any criminal endeavour on his part was doomed to failure, but even so the community's response was encouraging. People often turn a blind eye to what goes on around them, but not this time. The volume of calls received by the police suggests that perhaps a corner has been turned. Maybe Kaikohe's had enough of drug dealers and their ilk. Hopefully it has.
Chris McLellan is no one-man band. He is part of a determined police effort to address the causes of crime, and to encourage communities throughout the North to play their part in deterring it. That's quite a complex task; it not only requires the good people in every community to adopt zero tolerance for crime, but also needs victims to decide they want a better deal. Victims play a pivotal role, not only in deterring crime but in ensuring that offenders are caught. If enough of them decide they've had enough, criminal behaviour will reduce.
A large part of the problem is that some of those who offend, particularly in terms of dishonesty, are a different species from their victims. There will always be exceptions, but some have a total inability to empathise with their victims. They don't understand the hurt they cause, even with relatively petty offences.
We've seen two good examples of that recently too. Last week this newspaper issued an appeal from an elderly Kaitaia couple who were praying for the return of photos of their much-loved daughter, who two years ago finally succumbed to an illness she had fought bravely for 16 years. They have photos of her in their home, but that did not detract from the value of those that were in one of the wallets a child stole from them, after asking the lady of the house for a glass of water.
He didn't get much of value, and most of what he did take was soon recovered by the police, but a wallet, with the photos inside it, remains unaccounted for. Apparently he thinks he threw it in a drain, the problem being he can't remember which drain. He may be genuinely confused - this boy is not destined to be a Rhodes scholar - but he really doesn't care.
This is a boy who, having just celebrated his 12th birthday, was well known to his victims. He had been a guest in their house. He knew their daughter had died in 2012, and he knew her parents were still grieving. He probably knew that the couple would have given him anything he asked for, within reason. They had befriended him, and in return he stole from them. Will he ever change? Unlikely. Kaitaia's best hope is that CYF will deport him to another town, where he will become someone else's problem. He has to wait five years before he need fear the full weight of the justice system, and by then he will be totally beyond redemption, if he isn't now.
And today we tell the story of a young , hard-working woman who lost the money she had been saving for a year towards the experience of a lifetime to a thief who entered her home, took what he wanted and left. She holds very little hope that the police will find the thief, and even if they do the money will be long gone. The best this victim can hope for is some sort of retribution, and she doesn't seem the type for that.
The long-term impact of this crime is that it has robbed her of her trust. She now worries when she and her child are home alone. Noises that once would have hardly registered now alarm her. She wonders if she knows the thief. She wonders if she can trust the people who share her small community. Her life has been changed.
Would that bother the thief? Probably not. The money will have been turned into alcohol or drugs, and the offender's focus will now be on finding more. Your common or garden thieves don't care about the harm they do. They have no concept of people they no doubt regard as rich suffering the effects of a highly invasive form of crime. They see only the intrinsic value to them of what they steal.
People aren't born this way. This is learned behaviour, and today's thieves will produce children who will emulate them. Ironically, the couple referred to above are doing what they can to help people like the boy who stole from them. They are the last people who deserve to be victimised, but the thief didn't think of that. He was only interested in what he wanted, and didn't care who he hurt.
So all power to Chris McLellan and his colleagues. The more they do to inspire Far North communities to stick up for themselves the more difficult it will be for predators, even 12-year-old predators, to harm the good people who live here. Don't take crime lying down. Do something, even if it's only to pick up a phone. Do your bit to ensure the worm keeps turning. Let others worry about how the damage done to young minds and emotions might be repaired, and don't let them offend at will. The police, and everyone else, will thank you for it.
