One of the sad realities of my time, especially in my slice of the world, is how the vast majority of people refuse to report crimes that happen around them. You could see things happening around you, but choose to do nothing. It could be anything from domestic violence to rape, or even assault, people will just shut up and keep living their lives.
Even worse, many times, the victims themselves are the ones who refuse to report their cases. They just endure the pain and keep moving. They try to bury it all, the trauma and the brutality of it all. They keep it in and try to continue with their life like it never happened. As far as they’re concerned, they just may never get justice for what was done to them.
Sadly, there’s a reason for all this. For many, seeking justice might just be harder than it should be. Many people refuse to report crimes because it comes with so much baggage, and they’re scared that it’ll blow back on them in the worst way. In a country where those with the means can use the forces as they see fit, many people are simply hesitant to stick their noses in what doesn’t concern them.
You could report a man for domestic violence against his wife, and it’ll turn out that his friend is a high-ranking official in the police. And then, you’ll be at the receiving end of some nasty payback. You could report a crime and come under investigation just as well. This is also the reason we don’t get many good Samaritans in this country, because everyone is scared. You could help an accident victim get to the hospital, and if the person dies, you could be held responsible.
It’s also the same reason why when the police show up in a place, everyone runs into hiding, regardless of whether they did anything or not. This is just because they are not ready to deal with all the hassle that comes with contact with them. People who haven’t committed any crime are having a hard time with them, how much more those who do commit crimes?
This is why many evil doers get away with the atrocities that they commit. Can you imagine the boldness you need to have to assault someone and then dare them to involve the police? Because you know that nothing will come of it. And many times, because people know that nothing will come of it, they simply choose to look the other way. They’d just wait until the authorities find out about it themselves and take action. Many times, it never happens. But other times, social media comes into play and enforces justice.
This is a sick world that we live in. We need a total reform in so many sectors, especially the forces. So that people can be confident in them. And also, we’d need to be able to do the right thing and report crimes when we see them, regardless of what could happen. Whether we’re the victims or not. If you’re the victim, you owe it to yourself to report. For your justice, and also to make sure something like that doesn’t happen again to you or someone else. And for everyone else, you report to make sure the perp never does it again. Because you may be a bystander today, but tomorrow, it could be you or your loved one.
I just hope and pray that in time, everything will fall into place for everyone, and we’ll live in a society where we can really count on those charged with protecting us.
Thank you for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below, I would love to know what you’re thinking. Till we meet in the next post.
N.B: All images used in this post are mine. The thumbnail was designed using Canva.
