The theory of broken windows in police enforcement says that the rate of crime in a neighborhood is directly proportional to the number of broken windows in the area. Broken windows can mean burglaries or plain vandalism. Either way, when these offenses are not nipped in the bud, graver crimes happen. The solution is to keep watch before the situation deteriorates.

Broken windows are the norm in the country. Petty thieves abound. The migration to criminal syndicates is a matter of time. Broken plates are another issue. Any motorist in the metropolis can see vehicles that go around with barely legible license plates. Worse, you see license plates which are covered or smudged deliberately. The regulations clearly require that plates at all times should be visible even at night, especially at night. Traffic enforcers instead of pulling over drivers for the flimsiest violations ought to train their sights on the plates. Anecdotal evidence points to a number of hit-and-run cases that are difficult to track down. No clear license plate, no travel policy?

Police cars are not to be tinted. This is to ensure trust and transparency including the literal kind to the occupants police officers. Never mind the heat and the extra gas usage, the security and safety of Juan is paramount. In some other countries, no heavy tints are allowed in all kinds of vehicles to prevent their abuse.

Then you have the series of FX or shuttle van hold-ups. In a sense, it is easier to hatch because the van is enclosed like the bus but with several doors; the number of passengers is less and more manageable like the jeepney; the relative affluence perhaps a bit like the taxi-rider. It is a marked improvement that lately bank and restaurant robberies are not as prevalent or violent. Perhaps we are writing too soon.

Summer is ending and the work of Secretary Ace Durano remains a big challenge. For every tourist robbed or gypped, it is a black eye that no amount of billboards or promotion can cure. In a recent case, a scuba-diving European couple who lost their laptop and wallets ran to the police only to be milked by a few thousand pesos for police action or inaction. The famous Filipino hospitality seems to have taken a back seat to the economic needs of the times or is it a breakdown in our national culture?

There are bigger crimes and bigger criminals. The broken windows theory seems to be effective for solving street level crimes. In financial crimes, a fraud triangle model is used. The three angles stand for opportunity, pressure and rationalization. These three factors considerably explain why a crime is committed. But there is no single approach to why people go wrong from molesting minors to stealing money. Anyone up for discussing original sin as the cause?

In another case in a remote town in Cebu island, a girl was gang-raped, killed and thrown into a pit by the beach. The obvious thing to do was to swab fluid samples from the girl's body, compare it with the known suspects to hold the guilty ones accountable. The lack of forensic kits and maybe awareness of the key role of forensics notwithstanding the famous CSI television series meant that the crime had to be solved in the traditional way – question and answers, affidavits and alibis instead of science and common sense.

In the latest sex video scandal, our legislators are calling for the passage of anti-cyber porn laws and the like. This is an immediate reaction to the headlines. We are pushing for the passage of the comprehensive cybercrime bill pending at both houses of Congress to provide the framework for fighting technology crimes. Broken windows or broken plates, what matters is to focus and act on what is important and essential even if they may not appear so for now. A response that dwells on what is popular and expedient will result to more brokenness. And we don't need a theory to understand this.

Wilson Chua
Mabini Hall – Access to Justice
wilson.chua@gmail.com