Jul06
25
Crime Doesn’t Pay. Or Does It?
* This article appeared on my MoneyWeb blog on the 26 July 2006 [Link].
Let me begin by saying that I have never been a victim of violent crime in 25 years of living in South Africa.
A Golf I once owned did get broken into overnight. My childhood home in Johannesburg was invaded and goods were stolen, once. My brother was held up at knifepoint on a sidewalk. I know people that have been hijacked at gunpoint. That said, I do not claim to identify with people who have been subjected to devastating acts of violence, assault, abuse and discrimination, and admit up front my bias towards a country and a nation I love, celebrate and feel privileged to be a part of.
There are many who wouldn’t agree. Neil Watson, a South African citizen, feels so strongly about what he believes is an understated and out-of-control crime reality in South Africa that he’s started up a website to rally support from like-minded compatriots. Crime Expo South Africa is a blog that, according to the site, “aim(s) to provide victims of violent crime, as well as friends and families of the slaughtered, with an opportunity to collectively register their anger and provide the world with a preview of violent South Africa…” and “provide(s) an opportunity to the murdered to raise from their graves and haunt those who let them down!”
My immediate internal response to Neil’s site, its content and its apparent mission, was a negative one. He goes on claiming to have directly influenced top government officials with the announcement of the web presence: “Since we have notified the government and media about our intention in launching CRIME EXPO SA, the National and Safety Minister (01) apologized to the nation for his “take-your-stuff-and-move” remark in Parliament, (02) admitting that police officials lack the skills in dealing with the horror situation and (03) calling the top police structure for a meeting…”
As I understand it, Neil hopes to generate enough discord and uncertainty amongst potential and existing investors in South Africa as 2010 World Cup hosts to force government to do something about crime. I’m just not sure such an aggressive, pessimistic stand is the most constructive approach to building a nation of peace and tolerance.
In response to my discomfort I called on the Google god to reveal to me information regarding crime blogs in other countries. I picked up on a few US-based crime blogs, most addressing crime issues in their local states, but one in particular caught my attention. Huff’s Crime Blog is a well-written, crime-oriented blog that ironically enough has sniffed out the all the buzz around CRIME EXPO SA and wrote about it in a post titled “Crime Blog Wars in Africa“. Steve Huff (the author) had noticed how Neil Watson’s creation had been a catalyst for debate, conversation and a truckload of POSITIVE sites attempting to counteract his message. Sites like the Unbroken Barometer, started using Blogger’s free blog hosting service, had this to say:
I’ll start by saying that I am a proud young South African. I’ve started this Blog because of a website which has recently started in South Africa. It is a ‘crime barometer’, but it appears to me that the barometer is broken. Fortunately, this one isn’t.
I have tried to be heard on the website in question, but my comments have been refused. There are probably many other people who have experienced the same discrimination from the website. Put your comments here. Bad or good. I live in a democracy.
Go visit the site. Read the email response Addy (the author) received from Neil Watson when trying to comment on his site. Strange. To cut a long story short, Addy received so many hits and such an abnormal load of traffic in the week he was blogging on the site that he eventually had to close it off and start up a new venture with volunteers from the Unbroken Barometer - at www.oursecurity.co.za. From the site:
OurSecurity is a website run by volunteers, giving South Africans a voice for their concerns. We present both sides of the coin. We acknowledge that crime is a problem whilst remaining positive. We welcome criticism - we’re not always going to do everything right. We welcome praise. We welcome lively debate. And we welcome you. Sign up to get started, or simply remain anonymous.
Another site started specifically as a statement against Neil Watson’s CRIME EXPO SA can be found at www.realsouthafrica.co.za. Pieter Boshoff, author of the site, published an open letter to Neil Watson. An excerpt:
By encouraging this you are removing the possibility of a livelihood from an honest hardworking South African and breeding more poverty, hate, resentment and crime.
However, the most interesting little piece of info I stumbled upon was a comment posted to the article in Huff’s Crime Blog about the Crime Blogs Wars in Africa. It was written by someone called Parkey and in response to an IOL report that Steve Huff quoted from, when saying that Neil had to ward off potential saboteurs from ‘hacking’ into the site and ‘planting viruses’ in an attempt to destroy his initiative by shutting down for some time.
Parkey had this to say:
Neil Watson’s website was not sabotaged or a virus planted. MWEB Business discontinued his service untill he paid.
I work for MWEB so I know
Neil Watson is a big fat lier [sic]…
So if Parkey tells the truth, then Neil is inflating the truth (I’m being generous). Why would Neil say that his site had been sabotaged if that weren’t the truth? Why all the melodrama and suspense around the clandestine launch of the blog? Why the “Enough is enough my fellow citizens!” language? Why the gory pictures? (which are also rumored to have been doctored - that knife does look a little odd to me…)
I have a theory. And if I’m completely wrong and can be proven so, I will publicly withdraw my opinion and apologise, but I invite Neil to have a conversation with me. I reckon Neil’s a damn smart guy. He knows that web 2.0 software (like his blogging platform - Drupal) is hot on the internet right now. It’s cheap, fast publishing. Neil also knows that 2010 is a topical issue. He is also pretty switched on to the media - knowing that sensationalism and controversy sell. Neil knew his extremist viewpoint would quickly be smeared all over the web, and has been proven right.
I get the impression Neil Watson cares a great deal more about internet traffic than SA’s crime statistics. And why would internet traffic be important to Neil? Well, he has a list of advertisers displayed in his sidebar. I’m sure they pay money for that. How much does the site cost Neil? Well, hosting is maybe R 100 a month. The Drupal engine is free for download and use at www.drupal.org. So are his four ’sponsors’ splitting the R 100 between themselves? Or is it conceivable that Neil is earning some pocket change from the site?
Neil also has a nifty SMS hotline (R 3 per SMS of course) so that you can “Have your say”. Why doesn’t he just let users submit their opinions unedited? We know for a fact Adam from Unbroken Barometer didn’t get a chance to. Perhaps Adam should have sent an SMS for R 3 first. Where are all the R 3’s going Neil?
Maybe crime pays after all.
In conclusion, a quote from the newly conceived www.oursecurity.co.za:
Something else we are going to try on for size is advertising. Yes, we are planning to make loads of money. There’s one simple catch. We don’t ever see the money. If I can work out how to actually use the software, we’re going to offer advertising space to companies who donate money to charitable organisations. We’re not taking money “for administration costs” because we believe that a site like this will survive with the support of South Africans willing to make a difference.
I welcome your opinions.
Mike, thanks for the link and the references.
I suspect that your impression as to Watson’s motivations is, as the British might say, “spot on.”
Crime Blogging over here in the U.S. has made some real inroads with the mass media, but we’ve never had these sorts of strange conflicts with each other. That, and crime-blogging is usually more akin to political punditry (crime punditry?) here — people speculate, theorize, sleuth. I suppose we fall into that American/British phenomenon of picking up on a “crime of the week” and picking it apart, ad nauseam. I’m glad you found the entry I wrote, because in my personal blogging I’ve lately begun to work hard at breaking out of that mold, as well as breaking out of the U.S. borders. Crime happens everywhere, and in its way can always be a source of fascination. One can sometimes learn much about a culture sheerly from the crimes that occur most often there.
Steve Huff
It really just saddens me - as if we don’t have enough to work through already.
South Africa as a nation has done such a good job of admitting its shortcomings and working despite them for something bigger and better. Yes, we’ve had some pretty rotten moments and still harbour some pretty rotten individuals. However, for me, optimism and constructive activism are more sustainable approaches.
Hmmm. Lived in South Africa for all but 2 of my 58 years. Never (God’s Grace I know) been victim to a violent crime. DID however, have my bag snatched in Geneva airport when part of the Olympic bid team. Swiss police blamed it on ‘an Eastern European’ without any evidence to support that viewpoint! Luvvit.
Old Eastern story: Man consults fortune teller. She says, ‘Tonight, Death will come to take you in this city.’ Like hell he thinks. Leaps on horse and rides furiously to another city many miles away. Arrives, abandons horse, dashes thru city gates as they clang shut behind him. Safe, he thinks. Out of the shadows steps Death and says, ‘Ah, tonight you have saved me a journey.’ Moral? Doesn’t matter where you go in the world today. There ARE no ’safe’ or ’safer’ places. If the Divine has that ‘lesson’ in your script, it’s gonna happen.
Anyone with a CONSTRUCTIVE and bona fide intention would allow any and all comments to be posted regarding a topic. I have to query the motive of the ‘negative news only’ site. Bravo Mike!
So….
How do we go about being positive about crime? Not ignoring it and concentrating on the good aspects of this country (and there are many) but actually doing something about it?
I’de love to see a whole list of things that individuals can do to reduce crime in their neighbourhoods (sounds like I’m volunteering myself,doesn’t it?).
Some things that may or may not work:
-getting involved with your local community policing forum
-repairing fences along railway lines etc. (at least where I live, this is how many criminals gain access to properties)
-maybe this is a bit out there but I’m sure some of the tech geek types could set up a neighbourhood security camera network pretty easily…
any other ideas? I’m trying to break the epidemic of whiny white person syndrome that Neil’s blog is a symptom of.
Great article Mike. I have had a similar post building up in my mental outbox since stumbling onto Crime Expo and Death of Johannesburg. You said it much better.
OK - crime management 101. You have to kill the perception that you can ‘get away with something’ because it’s supposedly minor. William Bratten, the New York City police chief was the man who conceived the ‘broken window pane’ idea. (Even though the ever-opportunistic NYC Mayor, Rudi Guiliani tried to snitch it as his idea!) The notion is simple: Zero tolerance. You see a broken window pane in a building, the responsible people are told to repair it - pronto. Someone taking a leak against the side of a building, you arrest them. Someone drops a Kleenex on the sidewalk, you fine them. They also got rid of all the ’squeegee men’ at the traffic lights. Eventually everyone got the plot and the crime rate in NYC plummeted. Our problem is that very few people take rules, regulations, laws or bleedin’ ‘guidelines’ with any degree of seriousness. This same concept of zero tolerance even worked in Singapore! So it could be made to work here. We just need authorities with the will to implement it. Citizen ‘police’ with the authority to issue fines might be a start.
Reminds me of P.T.Barnum, an american showman who became rich and famous on his hoaxes, who said “Without publicity a terrible thing happens… nothing”!
Probably not in the public interest, but it makes for an interesting case-study nonetheless.
Well written Stopforth!
Mike — an entry I published in my weblog yesterday is turning out, I feel, to be an example of what I’ve seen blogging become, esp. where crime is concerned.
A fellow who has been imprisoned in California for 20 years for two murders may have committed many, many more. Yesterday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept. released a flyer containing photographs of 50 different women, photos found in the man’s home when he was first arrested in 1984. Immediately, bloggers and others interested in crime in the U.S. began to hit websites devoted to missing persons cases. I’ve already made a match with one woman missing from Huntington Beach, CA since 1977 — I’ll be interviewed by a L.A. NBC affiliate later today about that. Now, readers of my blog and fellow crime bloggers are following suit, and another blogger friend of mine may very well have made another match.
I comment you about this because it hit me that it is an excellent example of blogging about crime in a positive way: the police ask for the public’s assistance and provide concrete material to spur us on, and collaboratively, online, average folks start trying to resolve long-standing mysteries, at least in part.
No kvetching and ranting, but participation, tackling something as a team effort. Rather than wailing about how dangerous America is — and it is a given that I live in a very dangerous country, in many ways — some people seize on something they can do to be part of the resolution of the problem.
I’m more proud of the readers commenting on my blog entry:
http://huffcrimeblog.com/?p=695
than I am of anything I may have done. Here’s a direct link to my comments section there:
http://huffcrimeblog.com/?p=695#comments
In my opinion, what you’ll see there is one positive way to both address crime in a city, state, or country, and perhaps even do something about it.
Excellent blog, Mike. I’m glad you ran across mine so I could read you!
Steve
Thanks for that Steve. Like I said, maybe I’m naive and biased, but I firmly believe there are moreconstructive ways to combat crime than trying to blackmail the government over 2010 tourist attendance.
For other interesting views on the subject, check the responses at my MoneyWeb blog:
http://www.moneyweb.co.za/blogs/mike_stopforth/781476.htm
[...] Mike has connected in to the international response to sites like those and reveals some intriguiging insights! Do go play: click here [...]
isn’t it interesting that one of Niel’s sponsors is a security company.
what sells “security”? What drives the security industry’s rapid growth? Fear.
security companies stand to lose out if people start feeling safer in this country.
it may be as simple as that, mike. I wonder if it is possible to trace a connection between Niel Watson and the security industry.
(if you were a director of one of the big security companies and you were asking yourself “how can we grow our business?” wouldn’t you at least consider “making the threat known” a key strategy. of course, the more cynical amongst us may even contemplate the possibility that the directors might even consider “making the threat greater”.)
is that why security companies have now started sms-ing customers information about crime in their neighbourhood? keep the fear alive!
Look, I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist - I just want to highlight the facts and hopefully raise some interesting debate around the issue of crime (and yes, I believe it’s an issue) in SA and more importantly as Pete says, WHAT WE DO ABOUT IT!
Good commentary Mike. From my blog:
Mr Watson
I read with alarm that you are launching http://www.crimexposouthafrica.co.za. Your stated aim is to “disillusion and disgust” foreigners. The website will be launched today and is aimed at discouraging foreigners from coming to South Africa because of the crime here.
You have said the website will insist on answers from the world soccer association, Fifa, “Fifa must explain to the international community why the murders of thousands of people were ignored when the 2010 Soccer World Cup was awarded to South Africa.”
You have emphasised that the website will exceed all bounds, “We want to expose what the South African press finds sensitive.”
I understand that you plan to publish hundreds of photos of gruesome murders - photos the press feel are too sensitive to publish.
Apparently you have not yet been affected by crime, but you feel it is inevitable that you will be.
I share your fears. I live in Johannesburg. When I moved here ten years ago, crime was of epidemic proportions. I have witnessed a gradual improvement and like many, felt that the police were winning the war on crime. Many shocking crimes this year have awakened fears that things are getting worse. I like you have escaped being a victim of crime, something I am profoundly grateful for.
I believe that it is foolish to bury one’s head in the sand and pretend crime in South Africa does not exist. I am aware that I live in a society with an abnormally and unacceptably high rate of crime. I believe that our criminal justice system is hopelessly overloaded, inefficient and ineffective. I believe that our country has a culture of ducking accountability and denial of deep issues.
I have posted entries on my weblog, http://itisthequestion.blogspot.com about some of the horrific crimes that have been committed over the last 6 months.
But I fundamentally disagree with your intentions. I love this country. I question whether you do.
I continue to witness the turnaround of this country from the one I grew up in.
In the early nineties, I together with many, wondered if this country would descend into civil war. I even lost friends to the terrorist attacks occurring at the time.
I chose to stay and contribute to our country’s rebirth and have watched as the success of its turnaround has gathered pace. Few could have imagined the miracle. As we stood in the queue to vote in the referendum to give transformation our “yes”. As we queued with millions voting for the first time. As we watched one of world’s greatest sons forgive his captors and wear the rugby jersey of a white captain at the 1995 world cup. As we watched Joshua Thugwane win gold at the Olympics. As we have watched our swimmers rule the world. And as our economy has leapt to life growing at 6%.
I have watched people return to South Africa after having emigrated to other countries. I have employed these people and encouraged others to return, always honestly providing an assessment of the dangers and the benefits of such a move.
I have also encouraged family and friends who have left because of crime. I have seen the effects of crime on a family’s psychology first hand as my cousin killed an intruder in his bedroom. I fully understood his emigration choice as he sought a new life where his family would feel safe again.
I also fully realise that should I one day be a victim of violent crime, I might also feel sufficiently threatened that I might seek the safety of foreign shores.
I encounter people daily on the internet who have left South Africa and feel bitter about having had to do so. I meet many more who are even more bitter that whilst they might wish to leave they are unable to do so.
But I also see those who have been victims of crime who have managed to move on and remain committed to this country. I hope that I manage to avoid crime, but should I not, I hope that I might exhibit their bravery.
This country will survive and prosper because of bravery, commitment and optimism. Of course honesty, accountability and consequence will also be crucial to that success.
But our country also requires much to be built. We require a moral regeneration. It will be built on education. Education will require wealth and wealth will require jobs.
This represents massive construction. More than that, a constructive spirit.
And that is what worries me about your project. It is by objective destructive. You wish to turn people away from South Africa. You might justify this as your means of attracting the government’s attention through external pressure. But as considerable as your effort is, I believe you have chosen an easy path. For it is always easier to be destructive than play a constructive role.
Our country needs constructive contributions. Indeed perhaps because of the lack thereof, our problems are that much greater today.
There are many ways to play a constructive role. From merely contributing productively to our economy, to volunteering some small contribution to our police force.
In fact almost any contribution will be less than that of the lives that many of our policemen and women have given so tragically in defence of our safety. Some of those stories can also be found on my weblog.
I have wondered what other means you have attempted to engage the problem before your current effort? And I wonder if your considerable effort might not find a better role?
Regards
ItIsTheQuestion
References:
Anti-crime campaign may scare 2010 visitors
SA crime website ‘must disgust’
IMC concerned about ‘negative’ crime website
New anti-crimeexpo sites / posts:
Hoox
The Unbroken Barometer
http://www.realsouthafrica.co.za
Crime Site Gets A Rival - IoL
JoBlog
I have more evidence to prove that Neil Watson is nothing less than a Nazi who doesn’t have a clue what he wants and doesn’t.
He is fighting the right fight but alas the man is an utter fool. What he wrote to me is unbelievable. I don’t think he learnt how to read at school.
Look at his protest. How many people were there? 20 at most? Shocking for a man who wants to solve crime? I waiting for more failure then we can actually form a better movement that isn’t racists and one whereby it’s spokesmen will do what they are meant to. Speak and explain.
Neil, you are a sham!
[...] A while back I wrote about Crime Expo South Africa, a website set up by a man who calls himself Neil Watson, attempting to dissuade the rest of the world from visiting South Africa by telling them ‘the truth’ about our country. I was concerned that the website was taking a rather extremist angle and profiting in the process - it just didn’t resonate with me. I’m all for fighting crime, but am convinced there are better ways to do it than trying to boycott 2010 with doctored images and racist arguments. You can read my original article here. [...]
Positive speak or negative speak, the crime levels in SA remain unacceptably high.
I took the Ministers advice and left SA.
I experienced crime firsthand, often, as have all of my friends and relatives.
I am not willing to die for SA.
That’s reality.
I wish you all a long and happy life in SA but I am not going back.
[...] If you’ve read this blog for long enough you’ll know that I have had my say in the past about crime in South Africa and how we can combat it constructively. [...]
Al Steiner, something really serious nust have happened to you or your family for you to have left; it really is a pity.
I decided to stay, contrary to so many others. I have had a great life so far, and although my loved ones have also been subjected to horrendous crime, I am just not convinced that leaving solves anything at all.
I am prepared to put energy into making this a fair place to live, to do business, to raise a family.
I started developing MAC 911 seven years ago (www.mac911.co.za) and I was able to develop the most elaborate 9-1-1 management system in the entire world (not even the mighty US has access to such a product yet) and all of this simply because I decided to tackle the problem head on.
I think the point Mike makes about Neil Watson’s site is spot on, cheap political publicity fans fires, it does not solve anything.
Okay … so I live in te US of A - the safest, freeist country in the whole wide world[sic] “God’s Country” ala My Privite Little Idaho” . Yes, so much here is based on movie titles, scripts and 20 second sound-bites.
Most people - outside of the Washington, DC’s Beltway don’t have a clue as to what is really transpiring in their neighbouring county - let alone this country. They vote with their “pocket-books” (purses and wallets) not on carefully laid out political platforms or specific agenda’s.
Why do I bring this up - but to point out that crime here too - is on the rise - much more so than the ignorant/uninformed are privvy to or care to admit to. Here, they simply shelve it - bury it and concern themselves with how their own wallets are affected.
The prisons are overflowing with “petty criminals” (ala “Petty Apartheid vs. Systematic evils of Real Apartheid) and the real criminals go free.
I have always predicted and still see the real problem back home as this:
No homes breeds instability - homelessness and … crime - for mere survival.
Lack of or no health - causes inequality - bad lifestyles … instability … crime.
Lack of - Low standards of education - no education breeds unqualified masses seeking employment … breeds … crime.
No financial security - possibility breeds instability … crime.
No participation - sharing of the country’s wealth and natural; resouces causes unempowerment … exclusion … loss of identity - self-esteem .. worth and feeling of being “real citizens” … lack of empowerment - not belonging or entitled to self-improvement and growth.
Just what do the disenfranchised masses of South Africa have to proudly call theirs? And still we hear so many beneficiaries from the “past” regime whinge - cry foul and flee - their yellowtails between their legs - all because they refused to share, impart and help upflift those “beneath them … sigh …
I’m sorry me laddies, but crime is not the problem; it is complacency … inertia … living in a state of denial … a Time-Warp”!!!