Hit It With A Bigger Hammer
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HIT IT WITH A BIGGER HAMMER is a cynical title that describes how society deals with crime that cannot otherwise be deterred or stopped. More policing, harsher sentences, more invasive covert surveillance that more and more invades our privacy etc., etc.
“That cannot otherwise be deterred or stopped” is why this book is written because not only does it expose the absence of prevention in crime management that manifests in the systemic failure of our criminal justice systems, it offers an alternative solution that does prevent crime.
It exposes the ironic reasons this failure has evolved in crime management beginning with the policing ideology itself that is based on a clear conflict of interest that allows it to perpetuate the failure, ongoing, unwitting to policing and society. Policing is the fence at the top of the cliff of crime management as well as the ambulance at the bottom - a clear conflict of interest that allows policing to adjust its priorities and focus between the two elements to satisfy every question and challenge.
However, the solution in this book proves that prevention and enforcement are two separate and completely antithetic ideologies that cannot be performed together; meaning policing cannot prevent crime because it is impossible for it to provide the critical elements that do effectively prevent crime.
Might this explain why there is ever-increasing crime in society and why our criminal courts are forever congested and why our prisons are overflowing with the consequence of this systemic failure? Or why so many alternative punitive sentencing innovations need to be devised to cater for the increasing overflow?
And it does not end here; societal crime management is merely the beginning. The policing ideology is transported directly into best practice prevention management in commerce where workplace theft and fraud is endemic; and more latterly into sport where match fixing and corruption is ongoing in world cricket and soccer and other sports and doping remains prevalent throughout athletics and all sport.
There are many indicators to these failures that point in the direction of my alternative solution but they are ignored or unwittingly disregarded by the conflicting interest responsible for them that invariably advises dubious resolution and is thereby allowed to continue without further question or challenge. Clear examples of this are exposed in a particular case study in this book.
The policing ideology oversaw the latest global fiscal collapse that it was unable to prevent and it oversees corporate corruption and political malfeasance that continues unabated.
Much has been written about these events but no alternative answers have been proposed to prevent their further occurrence. Indeed the same policing ideology is used only with greater undertaking; or metaphorically “with a bigger hammer.”
That is the purpose of this book, to propose an alternative solution that works simply because it is the antithesis of the policing ideology. It is inclusive, trusting and cooperative, whereas the policing ideology is divisive, mistrusting and invasive.
It acceptably overcomes the societal “code of silence” that has society protecting its criminals and that, ironically, is the result of the policing ideology being the only answer society has to crime management.
It does not replace policing, that is preeminent and critical in law enforcement; it merely proposes to replace it in crime prevention where it can operate independently to achieve optimum possible crime prevention outcomes. It can collaborate with policing that can concentrate all its resources to achieve optimum possible enforcement outcomes - and together this collaboration will achieve the optimum possible crime management outcomes for society.
Going into the 21st century and beyond, society cannot continue to protect its criminals, who are in the clear minority but prevail; and criminals cannot expect to be protected for their misdeeds and offending that impacts on us all. There needs to be an coherent universal solution that is acceptable to everyone where we can all aspire to live in peace and harmony in a safe environment; or in the very least attempt to create a more functional and ordered society than the existing dysfunction and disorder that prevails at this time.
The solution proposed in this book provides a way forward to achieve this - to build a fence at the top of the cliff for the first time in the 2000 year history of crime management - since policing was first incepted under the guise of the Roman vigiles.
No alternative solution has since been proposed to question or challenge the policing ideology in prevention management. To not consider this solution is to suffer more of the same failure and we will continue the need to HIT IT WITH A BIGGER (AND BIGGER) HAMMER.
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About the Book
When I first questioned policing’s ability to prevent crime over 35 years ago, I never thought I would find a solution in its antithesis that proves policing cannot prevent crime; and the faulted ideology is transferred from public policing into every other area of society, including commerce and sport. I did not anticipate zealous opposition from policing that protectively covets the prevention role alongside its core law enforcement role. And because society exclusively defers to policing as its sole provider of expert crime prevention method and advice, it is difficult to influence change against its contrary advice. Put simply, prevention and enforcement are two very different, opposing ideologies. To accept that policing can expertly manage both roles is, at best, a conflict of interest and, at worst, a recipe for systemic failure - which is what our criminal justice systems have fallen into because of it. Our prisons are full to overflowing, our criminal courts are congested and our policing resources are forever stretched. Ironically, because it fails in prevention, policing exacerbates crime and self-perpetuates the need for policing’s increased presence. This book seeks to remedy this fault; in collaboration with policing. Its solution is inclusive and, as such, can be introduced to organisations from the top down, or from the bottom up. I have tried the top down route that simply defers my alternative solution to policing, which predictably disagrees. This book is for everyone, but it is largely directed towards the bottom up; the victims of crime and their advocacy groups, like ‘Me Too’ and ‘Sensible Sentencing’; the victims in waiting, like you and me; and the employees in commerce and athletes and players in sport who are all criminalised by the policing ideology inside their organisations, where offending is ongoing and not prevented. Unless change is effected, tolerance of preventable crime and corruption will be enduring throughout society.