By Nazario Rodriguez Jr.
Horizon news staff

How safe really are our house and belongins when we are at our places of Work? The recent string of burglaries is quite alarming Twenty-two points, plus triple-word-score, plus fifty points for using all my letters. Game's over. I'm outta here.If reports are true that the people who broke at the Etpisons’ mansion are the same individuals who did the other reported burglaries, then there must be some kind of police policies that would deter such organized crime.
Such crimes are unwelcome in a supposedly peaceful place like Palau, especially so that tourism remains to be the backbone of its economy.
If we allow such crimes to proliferate, even how petty these crimes are, then our efforts to further attract visitors would be affected.
If these people could do such crimes to secluded places like that of the Etpisons, how much more to houses of plain citizens as well as foreign workers.
What sort of safety measures and precautions to make for us not to worry of what we have left behind at home when we get to work?
We are really quite alarmed by what is happening. It is not just that this pinch hitter was a victim of such petty crime in the past but we worry of why these crimes occur.
Is it because such petty crimes are just the consequences of development? We’re talking here universally, meaning these crimes occur in any part of the world.
Back here in Palau, are such petty crimes the consequence of an unstable economy? Well, that’s the job of economists to prove that theory. It just occurred in our mind. There is no facts or figures to sustain its validity.
Still, there are some grounds for us not to believe to believe that these crimes proliferate because of the handiwork of thrill seekers. Stealing is never a thrill. It does not make sense that a person steals because of fun even if he knows he would suffer the consequences later. It’s not to blame anyone else but we’re just looking at possible angles why such crimes happen these days.
We can do our part in stopping burglars from continuing their trade.
I believe that these crimes occur because those who do it need something. That something is about material thing, most often money. If one cannot find money, he looks for other things that could be sold and converted into cash.
Therefore, one way of deterring such petty crimes is for us not to buy those stolen items even how cheap the price is. We are pretty sure that everybody knows how to determine if an item being sold to you is a stolen one.
In this way too, we could help lessen the work of the police authorities and make the community safe as well.