Shooting from the lip

into our suburb do you regularly check?

Q: Do you meet weekly the local SAPS crime intelligence officer, for the latest trends?

Q: Do you share crucial info about potential criminals you see?

Q: Does this inform your weekly “operational plan”?

Q: When the alarm was raised did you check all hideaways in our area?

Q: Do you manage all your efforts together, in any way at all? Seven quick, elementary questions. The answers? No. So, basically, there’s no co-ordinated, proactive crime prevention. It’s exclusively reactive. And when you do respond, it’s in silos. And almost pure guesswork?

Yes.

And so the balloon burst. The illusion of “security”. A widespread, inflated dishonesty, popped by the truth. The lesson is profound. We asked ourselves: How were we fooled for so long?

Simple: Our collective culture was dishonest, dysfunctional.

If we’d asked all those safety partners what they do, their presentations would probably have looked impressive. Of course. They’d define their own relevance.

But we took a different approach: We shone light into dark places. It was awkward. Some difficult silences.

But we had to do it. Digging up the dung fertilises our future.

We’ll continue to improve our deep understanding of the eco-system. All the players, moving parts, the surprising gaps. Then we’ll ask our safety partners:

“Tell us what you do poorly, what you really suck at. Tell us what should be happening. But it isn’t – if you had to be entirely honest? From now on, we’ll assess you on a new primary indicator: your willingness to tell the truth.”

Asking difficult questions doesn’t win any popularity contests. Holding colleagues to account. Honouring those we profess to serve.

Someone told me this past week: “We have a culture of sweeping truth under the carpet. It’s time we ripped that carpet up.” That requires courage. A change of culture. Which rewards the truth, doesn’t punish it. To be resolute and say: “If you hide the full truth, ever again: We’re coming to get you.”