Security – A Concept that Differs by Country
By Trevor Taylor, Marketing –
When police cross the line, it creates communities of corruption and insecurity.
One day, while living in Mexico, I was walking with a friend of mine. He was a native of Chihuahua Mexico. We were walking along the streets of Martin Carrera, a crime-infested district of Mexico City.
As we walked, we ran into two rough-looking men. They introduced themselves to me, and then continued on their way. Or so it seemed.
A few minutes later, we noticed the same two men were following about thirty feet behind us on the opposite side of the street. I asked my friend if we should consider calling the police if they kept following us. He began to walk faster, and in a worried tone said, “No, the police here do nothing for us. If anything, they’ll just make things worse.”
As soon as we turned the next street corner, we sprinted in search of safety. Luckily, we were able to outrun the two thugs.
I asked my friend why he didn’t think the police could help us. He told me a story about a robbery in his neighborhood where the police came in after the robbery to take whatever was left in the house.
As I recall this experience in Mexico, I remember how hopeless my situation would have been if we weren’t able to outrun those thugs. Having grown up in the United States, the feeling that there would be no one to help us, or even care, was completely foreign to me.
One Group is Taking a Stand
Unfortunately, most of the world lives with this lack of security due to corrupt law enforcement and bribery. A group known as Transparency International, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) based in Berlin, has been working to keep stories like these from happening.
In one article by the group, it explains how the organization was able to stop city police from harassing a homeless woman’s son in Venezuela. The police had always given her trouble, but this time she was forced to witness the police beat and drag her son away from his apartment. She knew the only way to get him back was through bribery. With the help of Transparency International, however, senior government officials set up an operation to monitor the harassment, and detained the officers once they were caught in the act.
The Motivation
The managing director of Transparency International, Miklos Marschall, explains that his organization is unified by a common theme — social justice. “It drives us every day,” he said. “We believe in fair societies where people have more or less equal opportunities, [an] equal chance.”
Transparency International, founded in 1993, works with government officials to identify problems with corrupt societies and seeks to develop innovative solutions to keep corruption at bay. This approach has led to the group’s success, and the organization now operates in over 60 different countries.
For Marschall, however, the fight against corruption is far from over. He said, “we need broader coalitions … [and to] build better awareness and participation among ordinary citizens.”
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