Shooting from the lip

can’t protect its people from each other – then it’s broken its side of the bargain, loses its right to govern. So what do we do when the bullets keep flying? How do we hold each other to account in our “social contract”? Stop. Observe. What are we looking at? In safety, we’re looking at about 25 primary “safety partners”, ie residents, parents, neighbourhood watches, community policing forums, wards, councillors, SAPS, traffic police, municipal law enforcement, the emergency medical service, firefighters, private security, school management, principals, teachers, public works, municipal infrastructure, social workers, private business, agriculture, mayors, municipal managers, the state intelligence agencies, the prosecuting authority.

There are many more. And each have numerous different team members within.

And that list doesn’t even begin to address other causal factors of “unsafeness” – like poverty, socio-economic realities and the macro-economic world, shaping entire nations’ fortunes and the collective consequences on every street. Let’s start with our 25: Do we genuinely understand all their precise roles and responsibilities – in our integrated safety strategy? Then, 10 simple questions: Are we one collective safety leadership?

Do we share a common view of risk? With integrated business intelligence?

Do we plan together – integrating our different duties?

Do we operate together, with integrated communications?

Do we integrate – as active civilians, volunteers – with the state?

Do we manage ourselves expertly, in priority geographic spaces?

Do we incentivise ourselves, encourage us to each play our roles? Do we hold each other to account? Do we learn together? To improve our problem-solving, tomorrow?

And do our most senior decision-makers have crystal-clear dashboards, of what’s going on, to hold ultimately to account?

These are “basic operating systems”, which can unite us. With “smart” partnership systems to run them.

Only once the answers are “yes” to every question, can we press the “SOS” button – and expect an impact. Only then, in times of danger, can we “Stop. Observe. Steer.” with great accuracy.

Through the “disorder”, which Hobbes so feared.