Panama is going through one of its most critical moments in terms of security. The escalation of homicides, assaults, and violent acts shaking the country has led voices to point directly to the roots of the problem, from the absence of police on the streets to the decomposition of values in homes.
Experts with years of experience in security and the legal field are sounding the alarm. Former Major Felipe Camargo, with a long career in the National Guard and later the Defense Forces, was clear and direct: "Police presence can never be replaced by cameras or sporadic patrols." For Camargo, the simple physical presence of a police officer has a deterrent power that no technology can match. "Just by seeing a watching police officer, the criminal measures his steps. Today all of that has been lost," he noted.
Camargo argues that today's role models are people obsessed with material things. "Respect for the teacher, for parents, for elders used to exist. Nothing replaces the firm gaze of a uniformed officer on the street," he maintained.
Camargo concludes that public security cannot be outsourced to technology or symbolic operations. "The police officer is more than a public official: he is the visible symbol of the State on the street." When he is absent, fear takes his place, he assured. "We have children raising children: respect has been lost and God has left the homes," he added.
While Camargo points to the emptiness in the streets, criminal defense attorney Nora Santa fires at the emptiness in the homes. For her, the increase in crime is a reflection of a morally sick society. "I feel that this increase in delinquency is due to the loss of values," she stated.
For the jurist, the crisis is not only social but also spiritual: "God has left the homes." She laments that the essential bond between home and school has been broken: "Children don't go to school for teachers to educate them, but to reinforce what they must learn at home. But if the home doesn't teach and the school doesn't reinforce, what's left? It's like a marriage: the home starts it, the school continues it. Nobody is concerned about forming good people. And it all starts from the home," she emphasized.
Santa also attacked the education system, which in her view has lost its way. "We see mothers who go and hit educators because they try to impose discipline, but there are also educators who are not trained to educate young people. And when we see teachers' strikes with tamborito music and costumes, that is a shame," she said.
In the face of this crime wave, experts in the subject with years of experience in security and the legal field are issuing warnings that cannot be ignored.
