Beware the Thief!

I found a letter in our mailbox yesterday morning. It reads as follows:

I want to advise the neighbourhood that one of the residents of (address here) has been caught breaking into vehicles continually on our street as well as other surrounding neighbourhoods. He has broken into my vehicle three times and my neighbour's car over 5 times! He has become a menace to our streets so much that the police have actually set up a program where teams of officers in the area drive around looking for this guy as well as a few others known in the area. Keep an eye out for a white male in his late 30s or early 40s, approximately 5'8" to 5'10", with very small shoulders and usually a very dirty appearance, dark hair, medium length. The first time he broke into my vehicle he stole my daughter's knapsack with her school books in it. He will take anything from your car - so please keep all valuables out of your car or at least out of plain view. He will steal whatever he can, even CDs and sell them for money. He is presumed to be a crack addict stealing to support his habits. Our neighbourhood is full of nice families and yet is being tainted by guys like this. We should all do what we can to force these guys out of our area! I will attempt to contact the owner of this property and plead to have this guy evicted. However if you can help by finding some time to call as well, I'm sure this would make it a quicker process. I cannot give the telephone number out, however the number can be found doing a simple internet search of the property. I hope this helps to stop this guy, and save some of you any inconvenience in the future. Help keep our streets clean and safe!

Sincerely, a concerned neighbour.

To this concerned neighbour, I say your heart may be in the right place, but before you attack, let's think about this a little more so that we achieve a solution benefiting all.

This letter does a wonderful job of summing up the mindset our our society: dehumanize the "rogue" elements, sweep the problems under the rug, out of sight and out of mind, and the "nice families" can return to their pristine lives of production and consumption. What these residents are (deliberately) not told is that, much like overloading a closet with clutter to save time and effort on cleaning your room, these problems don't disappear simply by banishing this person from the community.

If you simply throw him out of his home, he'll only do the same to another neighbourhood, and another, and another. The police will throw him in a cell for a year, then turn him loose again on society, all the while being left to his own devices in a contained state of nature, as Hobbes described it. Distributing this leaflet alone will likely sooner give rise to vigilante action before anyone has the chance to formulate something remotely rational. Our problem now will be someone else's problem later if the problem isn't properly addressed.

By consuming crack, this man is fulfilling a need. This need is fostered by money. All other concerns are completely out the window. His intent is not to do anyone any physical or emotional harm; your easily accessible possessions suffice, as they are of much better use to him than your lives. If you are serious about this problem, don’t expect the police or an eviction notice to rectify the situation. This man has a mental health affliction. My course of action would be to consult a party who has experience dealing with this sort of people (the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health is an example). If you want, you could organize a group to show up at his doorstep and confront him about how his behaviour is affecting the community – an “intervention”, if you will. That’s just my opinion; take it for what you feel it is worth.

If this individual is as addicted to crack as our concerned neighbour presume him to be, then he is sick and in need of our help. Let's avoid making him someone else's problem, or, worse, fanning the flames of our own.

p.s. I'll save the socio-economic history of crack cocaine for another discussion.