Time does not wait for anyone.
Time carries on ticking away – It never stops, it does not stop because you are not ready for something or perhaps because you are ill or someone you love passed away. It might feel like time stands still when you fall in love or when you have lost someone dear to you, but it doesn’t.
Crime is the same
It doesn’t stop just because you are not ready for it, or because you haven’t had the money to secure your property, or because COVID-19 threw us a curveball.
No, crime doesn’t sleep. It doesn’t get sick and it doesn’t die.
Crime doesn’t listen, it doesn’t care, it has its own set of rules and it is relentless in its endeavor to succeed. If only we were so diligent in protecting our families, employees and assets.
To a criminal, your reasons for not having sufficient security or protection is completely irrelevant. In fact, they welcome it.
Much like when we were at school and had several weeks to complete an assignment and on the due date it’s still not finished. No reason, excuse or explanation is going to be valid enough to convince the teacher to give you some more time. You were given ample time, guidance and support to finalise the assignment by the due date.
The only difference is that we don’t know what the due date is when it comes to crime.
It can be tonight, tomorrow while you are at the shop or work, it can be next month or even next year. Perhaps you are lucky, and crime will leave you alone for ten years, but at some point, luck runs out and then you have to be prepared.
You cannot turn around and tell a criminal that you are not ready and that they must come back later when you have secured your property. It doesn’t work like that.
Criminals do not care.
Criminals never care. Of course, they prefer if you are unprepared because that makes things a lot easier for them.
Criminals don’t care about how tired you are or whether you need a break. They would prefer that we all take a break because that gives them all the opportunity in the world.
The reason that criminals have the upper hand in this crime battle is that we (and by ‘we’ I mean Security Companies, homeowners, business owners and so on) think that our reasons are good enough, we think that our excuses for being reactive instead of proactive are valid.
The fact of the matter is that no reason or excuse is even remotely good enough to counter crime.
You might as well tell your teacher that your dog ate your homework.
Of course, you don’t have to take my word for it. You just need to look at the crime-related death toll in South Africa, the inner crime, corruption and even children. As I said, businesses and homes need to take a hard look at their security. Is there security as well as safety in place, especially at residential homes?
Some reported crimes are in the newspapers and on the news on television. Some make it on social media; however, those are only a fraction of the incidents that we hear about.
The incidents that we do not hear about outnumber the ones we do hear about by far.
The statistics prove that criminals are winning. All because we have good ‘reasons’ and ‘excuses’ not to stop crime.
No reason or excuse will ever be good enough in the fight against crime. We will only win this battle when we don’t have reasons or excuses anymore. Remember Time carries on ticking away It never stops be mindful with your time.
Read your Security risk assessment report. – Andre Mundell