?I felt compel to respond to the short-sighted views of Siddhartha Orie on the removal of illegal tint and the connection to the murder toll ("Strip searches in public after tint crackdown?"–Oct 9). The first thing Orie should understand is that a crime is not only murder, rape or car and house burglary. A crime, as I know it, is an offence punishable by law. In this country we are governed by numerous laws that guide our everyday life. However, these laws are seldom practised by some citizens or enforced by the authorities. Like driving on the shoulder of the road, littering, driving above the speed limit, jaywalking, using obscene language, urinating in public, defacing public property (like placing stickers on electricity poles), parking on pavements, not wearing seatbelts.
I can go on but let me not forget Orie's pet peeve, dark tints on windows and windscreens of vehicles, thereby making identity of who or what is in the vehicles difficult. Tint is legal, Orie, once it is within the ambits of what the law requires. The legal tint is also quite adequate to deal with the UV rays that you are so worried about. The police roadblocks are something that we should have patience with as they just might seize a gun or stop someone that was destined to do you or your family harm. There is a saying, "if you don't have cocoa in the sun you don't look out for rain." When we don't see police on the road checking for law-breakers, we complain they are not doing their jobs, and when they are doing their jobs we complain about the inconvenience that is caused. The Police Service must balance their duties.
Don't expect them to turn a blind eye to everything else and just run down murderers and bandits. An offence is an offence, it matters not if it's minor or major. I don't mind sacrificing a little bit of my time and co-operating with the authorities to make this country a better place. If everyone takes responsibility for himself/herself and do what is right, we can have a better place. We will not need police to tell us to stay off the shoulders of the road and to give us tickets when we break the speed limit, or have them make us peel off our dark tints because we are trying to protect ourselves from UV rays. Orie, when you are not obeying the law, you are breaking the law. And law-breakers, the minor ones and the major ones, including rude and discourteous people, are the cancer that is killing the quality of life in T&T.
A Britain
Maraval