I was leaving the BELIZE Dry Cleaners the other evening going toward Cemetery Road and knowing Fairweather Street to be a one way going the other way, I decided to walk my bike. I have been doing this lately since I have been meaning to address the problem of bicycles not honoring the one-way traffic laws and did not want to seem hypocritical when I did. I believe thatriding the wrong way up a one-way street is a very dangerous practice especially when crossing another one way street. Drivers tend to pay attention only to the direction where they expect traffic to be coming from and I myself have almost hit a biker or two when driving through such an intersection. I therefore have no problem with the enforcement of this law but the way in which the police have been going about it, leaves a lot to be desired.

As I am walking my bike and upon nearing the entrance to Roger’s Stadium I am stopped by two policemen and ordered to go the other way or have my bike taken away. As hundreds of citizens have found out, that would mean paying a fine of $25 before I could reclaim my sole means of transport. I asked for an explanation since as far as I know, I can walk my bike and cannot see where doing so would pose any sort of danger or problem. I am rudely made to understand that the best thing that I could do was to turn around and do as I was told. I notice then that a young man who usually plays ball in the park is standing against the wall handcuffed. “Why”, I enquire and am told by the young man, whom I know to be quite mild-mannered, that he had been accused of being upstart. “I shoulda punch yu ina yu mouth,” suggested one of the officers who proudly identified himself as PC663 Ryan Young as he moved menacingly toward the youngster. Although he was not hit in my presence, I was told two days later that the guy had been taken to jail and locked up until four the next afternoon before he was finally released with no charges being filed. He missed school as a result and can probably now be counted as just one more juvenile with a passionate hate for the police. Because of officers such as Ryan Young, all policemen are given a bad name.

Recently, however, I was exposed to a direct contrast of this behavior when I attended a meeting yesterday at the Raccoon Street Police Station. A group of seven dedicated officers led by public relations officer Sergeant Pitts has joined forces with the education department and officials from the Princess Royal Youth Hostel, to tackle the problem of truancy in our schools. This is a major problem and one that requires staunch and immediate attention. Reports of a study taken a couple of years ago reveal that on average, as many as 378 children are absent from our city schools on a daily basis. This problem has been growing progressively worse and it is estimated that the figure has now grown to well over 400 per day. The city has been divided into six separate zones and each of the special officers has been assigned to a certain zone. With as many as fifteen schools in one particular zone however, it would seem that one officer per zone will just not be enough. Especially when these officers are also being relied upon to perform other task within their designated zones. The problem of absenteeism is an exigent one and by addressing it forcefully and appropriately, we might in fact, be prudently clipping many other major problems in the bud. The education department, with a more exciting and interesting curriculum has made a viable attempt toward alleviating the problem and with the police now getting involved, there is at least a glimmer of hope. The most important component toward a viable solution however, will have to be the parents. In an effort to persuade their cooperation, the police are planning to enforce a law that has long been on the books; one that holds parents directly responsible for the wrongdoing of underage children which in this case would be truancy. The plan is to issue a warning to any parent whose child is found on the street during school hours. A second warning would result in charges being filed and who knows, maybe we have finally stumbled upon a worthwhile function for the family court. Instead of exerting energies trying to appease vindictive women maybe they can instead pay some attention to the welfare of our children. After all, is not their interest what is really paramount?

A major reason for children staying out of schools these days seem to be the lure of the increasing number of game machines around town. They have become a main fixture in many Chinese stores and as long as the children have money, whether or not it’s during school hours seem to be the least of these merchants’ concern. It seems to me that it is about time that we impose some sort of ban, if only during school hours.