Snatch Thefts

I had wanted add “…(Again)” in my blog topic, but soon realized that I hadn’t blogged about snatch thefts here before. There was a number of them in my old blog though.

For starters, I despise snatch thieves. Nothing can ever justify the act of snatching another’s handbag, wallet, and so on. The frequency of occurence here in Malaysia is alarming!!

We read about them almost every single day in the papers. Note that these are only the reported cases. Just imagine how many more went unreported.

It happens so frequently, so much so that the crime has already been regarded as a ‘norm’ in our daily lives. What’s going on? How many of you, or your friends, relatives or family members have once been victims?

Something needs to be done before the term “snatch thefts” becomes a Malaysian identity.

While the escalating numbers can be conveniently blamed on the police, the government, too needs to do something to curb this… trend. More and more people are resorting to snatching handbags now, isn’t it a ‘trend’?

A heavier, more ‘impactful’ punishment should be a good start. The Closed-Circuit TV idea around Klang Valley is good. How effective they will be is anyone’s guess.

Snatching Lives
Most victims are fortunate enough to suffer ‘only’ monetary loss. How about those who got paralysed? How about the pregnant victims who suffered a miscarriage? How about those who lost their lives to these snatch thieves?

The society (and if I may add, modern and civilised, too) should not be subjected to violence and insecurity such as this.

In case you haven’t already noticed, this post was inspired by a news report today. A victim was paralysed waist-down.

And yes, the thieves got away. Unsurprising, isn’t it. They always manage to get away. Only a handful get caught (thanks to good samaritans!).

Worse, once they’ve fled, it is virtually impossible to nab them unless there was a CCTV camera that recorded the incident. Even so, the low resolution cameras provide little information, if any.

Recognise the motorcycles’ registration number, you may say. Think it’s that easy? The next thing you’ll hear is that the number is either fake, or the bike’s a stolen one. 1-0 to the thieves, again.

Are we really doomed to have snatch thieves terrorising us forever? At the rate things are going, that may just be the case.