Getting Carjacked

It can happen anywhere, at anytime. Sadly, that seems to describe the state of criminal violence on our island. A few days ago, my girlfriend and I were victims of a carjacking. Luckily, the three guys were more interested in my car than in us, and we were able to leave the scene without even a scratch. Considering no physical harm became on us, particularly when one of them had a rather large gun, we are beyond grateful and fortunate.

Yet here’s the thing, this happened during a weeknight in Condado, within a block of a police unit (the one stationed in front of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court Judge, Federico Hernández Denton) and the private guard of the old 7-11, this in addition to the regular swarm of police that crowd Condado. The only reason this happened to us was not because we were followed, but solely because we managed to walk in front of the three kids as they were looking for a victim. Wrong place, wrong time….but is there really a safe place anymore?

As I think back to the event on Thursday, the thought that races through my head isn’t “I should have done X, Y or Z”, rather it’s “this could have happened on any parallel street in Condado, even in broad daylight.” Think I’m being too pessimistic? Just read a newspaper. While many deaths are drug-related, many assault crimes are not. The fact that 3 kids walked through the street, facing a cop car, then walked one block to the left and felt confident enough to carjack someone isn’t so much a move of desperation as it is of sheer cockiness. Cockiness, because they know they can get away with it.

The same story rings true with many friends here on the island. Walking in lighted and “safe areas”, and all of a sudden, a gun pops out, purses and keys are given and they flee (that’s the best case scenario.) Many victims of assault crimes aren’t walking in dark ghettos or alleys, they are walking in the middle of the biggest city in Puerto Rico, usually with cops no more than 2 blocks away, yet that makes no difference.

I won’t jump on the “this is why you/we/us have to leave Puerto Rico bandwagon” just yet. Yes, Puerto Rico has a horrific crime rate, and my point with this article is precisely that: we really aren’t safe anywhere. Yet that’s not to say that New Orleans (home for 2 years) was any less dangerous, neither were some parts in Miami (3 years) or the entire SW/SE quadrant of DC (1 year). All the cities I just named are known for their high crime rates, so the solution isn’t simply to flee into exile. Part of the solution lies in our hands, not theirs.

Crimes aren’t going to decrease because we have more cops on the street. As I mentioned, the spot where we were carjacked was probably surrounded by cops, yet it made no difference. Stopping crime begins not on the street, the minute before the gun is gripped, but at home, before the young man steps out into the night (or day). We can squabble all we want on the hundreds of ridiculous issues that decide our elections, or we can focus on one issue: Our lives.

Without a comprehensive education and jobs program, crime rates aren’t going to go down anytime soon. I don’t need to fill this post with stats and references for what I just said. The equation is pretty much as solid as F=M*A. With the opening of the new school year, the nomination of yet another Secretary of Education and with obsessive coverage of who the next candidate will be, it’s us who need to make our leaders focus on real solutions, not catchy phrases for recycled programs.

And one more thing: If, god forbid, you’re ever in the same situation as I was last Thursday, don’t be a hero. Look down and give them the keys. Anything you bought at a store can be bought again. Your life, or that of your loved one, however, cannot.

No related posts.