COME TOGETHER
BY
DEREK CHAPPELL

The police officer was naturally suspicious of the rough looking, strange young man in the dirty clothes who stumbled towards him. His suspicion changed to surprise when the figure stopped in front of him and said, “Arrest me.” In my 26 years of policing I have never met someone who actually wanted to be placed in a prison cell. Despite the strange request, the policeman could not arrest him, for he had committed no crime.

Several days later his wish came true. Stopped at a normal checkpoint in the street he was found in possession of a quantity of heroin and was arrested. His earlier, unusual meeting with the police had been for a reason. He was a drug addict, with a consuming need for heroin. His request to be arrested was a cry for help. It had been an attempt, in a rare moment of clear thinking, to put himself beyond the chemicals that his body craved.

This incident took place here in Kosovo within the past few weeks. Sadly, the young man is not alone in his dependency on a daily diet of drugs. The seizure of drugs of all types on the streets of Kosovo by the police is growing by the week. It is one of the most noticeable trends that we see. It causes great concern to us and it should also raise concern amongst the people of Kosovo.

The Balkans have long been thought of as part of the pipeline that delivers drugs to Western Europe. It seems that the contents of the pipeline are now leaking into the streets of Pristina, Gnjilane, Prizren, Pec and Mitrovice.

Part of the reason for this rise in drug cases is the return to normality throughout Kosovo and the return to more normal policing. For much of the past two years the police have been fully occupied dealing with the large volume of murders, grenade attacks and cases of ethnic intimidation. We have not been able to provide the type of policing that allows for local foot patrols and the opportunity that creates for contact with people. We have not had the time or the ability to deal with local problems. The focus of attention for much of Kosovo and its media has been on our investigations of major crimes. There has been little interest in anything that does not involve politics or ethnic conflict.

Now that violent crime has dropped we have the time and resources to provide policing on a more personal basis, directed at communities and their individual problems. Despite the attention that bombings and murders attract, it is local crime such as thefts, burglaries and robberies that most affect how safe people feel. We are now discovering how this type of crime has flourished in the absence of community policing. The drug trade is the most deadly of these criminal diseases.

People turn to drugs out of despair. Young people lose themselves to drugs when they lose their confidence in the future, when daily life is so boring and without hope that the fleeting fantasy of a momentary high is preferable to reality.

The development of a drug culture is often evidence of other problems in a society, such as a breakdown in the family, a loss of respect for institutions such as the church, the law, the schools and the government, all of which reinforce the rules of behaviour. These organizations are the cement that binds the individuals of a group together and make them into a community.

The infection of a society with a culture of drug dependence has serious consequences. As I personally know, from being an investigator in youth crime, it leads to a huge growth in street level crime such as break ins, thefts and robberies, as desperate addicts seek to obtain the money they need for their habits by turning against their neighbours and friends.

It leads to violence within communities and schools as criminal groups compete and fight for control of the drug business. It very often leads to organized crime on a local level as those who control the supply of drugs employ their dependent customers as criminal employees, to steal cars, commit thefts, transport weapons, act as prostitutes, or break into houses to steal property, according to the orders of the dealer, in exchange for a supply of drugs.

We have known of cases in which youngsters were supplied with free drugs as a way of creating a dependent group whose allegiance is to the supplier, not to the family or the community.

Kosovo provides a fertile ground for the development of a drug fuelled crime culture. Following the excitement and hope that followed the end of the conflict, the realization has become clear that there will be no instant changes. It will be a long, difficult process to transform Kosovo. There is a large population of young people, many of whom regularly see the lifestyle of Europe on television and long for the opportunity, the material goods and the prosperity they see so close. However, there is high unemployment here, little industry and little chance that they will achieve that lifestyle in the near future. These are the same conditions we see in the inner cities of North America, where eyes look with envy at the wealthy suburbs that are so close. The result is frustration, which can develop into crime, or into despair, leading to escape into a world of artificial happiness through drugs.

Kosovo also has a history to escape. In the recent past the police have not been a part of the community. A climate of secrecy and a culture of silence has developed. There is also a well established criminal structure in place which was, in part, supported by the previous political system.

Kosovo does not have to be a prisoner to this process. The drug trade is a business that deals in the exploitation of human weakness. But it is a business that is difficult to hide. The thief may commit his crime in the night, without witnesses. He may hide his stolen goods and to his friends and family be innocent of suspicion. The drug business, however, depends on communication and contact between people – supplier and customer. The user must know who to approach and where to go to purchase their supply. The drug user cannot conceal his habit. His behaviour will reveal himself to his friends and family.

Unlike the large, anonymous cities of North America, Kosovo is a place of small communities, of settled populations. People know one another, they know the routines and patterns of life in their village or in their small part of the city. Those who commit crime as a business will be known to many people. Those who deal drugs will be members of someone’s community. They will be someone’s neighbours, someone’s friend. They will be the enemy of all and deserving of no protection through silence.

It is the development of a sense of community amongst different people that will prevent the scourge of drugs from taking hold here. If people regard themselves as individuals then they will not feel the need to act against those who do not directly threaten them. If people feel a sense of loyalty, kinship and unity with others then they will act together. The Kosovo Police Service is committed to building confidence in the police but it cannot do so alone. It needs the eyes and ears of everyone to listen and watch for criminals and to talk to the officers that patrol their neighbourhood.

Unity is the key to moving forward. The best way to protect your youth from the despair that gives birth to drug abuse is to offer them a future. The investment and economic development that will rebuild Kosovo will not happen while it is a fractious group of competing interests. The security that will allow people to enjoy their newly won freedom will not develop until people realize that they all have one common interest. The support that the police need to act on your behalf against those who would prey on your children will depend on that sense of community. For Kosovo and for your children, this is the time to come together.

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The writer is a Public Information Officer for the UNMIK Police.