An idea for USM

The ongoing series of arrests of looters the police have been announcing practically on a daily basis will surely bring a certain amount of satisfaction to the main victim of these crimes. Namely the business community.

However, we are curious to find out what made these people think that they would be able to get away with this level of mass looting. When we look at the police photos of the confiscated goods and how these items were stored in hallways of houses and sometimes openly on front porches and in backyards, we really wonder how the looters – and possible fencers – were planning to do away with these stolen goods. It is simply too much to hide or to consume quickly enough to do away with the evidence.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office has offered a grace period for looters to return the stolen goods voluntarily to avoid arrest, prosecution and conviction. We hope many make use of this offer.

Nevertheless, we opt to extend an idea to the business community via this platform, and that is, to sponsor a research study to investigate the underlying factors and causes that led to such mass misbehavior in the first place and what can be done to avoid this happening again in the future. Maybe this could be an idea for USM?