Gated Communities

There is a trend toward gated communities, places you have to know the code to get inside. I see this sort of movement fearfully fearful and fearsome. Outside on the stonework entrance with its iron gates, is always a rather snotty sounding title for those who consider themselves "to the manor born". There is nothing wrong with the whole thing any more than someone in an apartment building with a coded entrance or a locked door on a house. The only thing is, that it doesn't elevate one member of society more safe over another, due to the expensive digs. First of all, money doesn't make the man, character does, as they say. Second of all, thieves are in the business of finding ways around flimsy things such as locks, gate openers and code boxes if they really want to get into someone's place, they'll find a way. Over and over again, we hear about lock-up apartment buildings with the latest of door openers and cleverest of entry systems that have been thieved. Perhaps you don't hear from the tight-lipped individuals behind the gates of that sort of "neighbourhood" being robbed. Why? These folks shun the bad rep label. What makes their insiders feel more confident and safe, has one  benefit; it not only sells, but also adds to the snob value and, of course, a bigger price. But the fact remains, that the well-off have more to lose. I can't say that I am one of the fearless ones who lives outside gates or locks, but I merely comment because I wonder where this is taking us. The incidence of break-in or theft of some kind is relatively rare, but it does occur at some point to almost everyone. Desperadoes who are addicted to substances or like to impress their gang buddies, do this sort of thing, and security devices don't stop them, no matter what the ads say. Diligence is the better defense. Confidence in a sign on the front lawn or a surrounding high-board fence, even a nasty dog, will not stop a thief. A locked window, for example, merely deters a robber who won't break the glass, from a possible longer sentence: a break and enter charge. We live in a scary world now. There are too many, whose lives are drugs or a combination of insanity plus a habit. They have put themselves in a desperate way, and do anything and everything to find a way to get what they need. The answer? The answer is not more bars but more attention on to how to solve the problems and build facilities and systems that do more than charge and incarcerate. Not doing this, is costing us more than robberies. Deaths, injuries and money spent in questionable protection devices costs every tax-payer millions. Our pockets have to be adjusted to accommodate better attention to poverty and its ills, to mental illness and its manifestations and to stopping criminals from the top down. It's worth it. We're worth it. Gates that put ourselves in prison, won't fix what will get only worse if we don't find a solution. It takes bucks and brains, not bars.