Whistle Blowing: The Impact, Authenticity and Danger
In a world that's filled with so much crime and social vices, a measure to arrest this has to be effectively put in place. This could involve every necessary and right means to curtail the occurrence of the menaces in societies and the country at large. Security personnel and the forces are responsible together with intelligence to work around such things. However, one way to efficiently go about it could be involving the general public.
I came to know about whistleblowing some years back. It looked like a funny concept to me. Maybe because of how people used it. However, what it entails was reporting crime; informing the necessary bodies－security forces of a crime. The action is meant to alert these forces about ongoing crime activities or those that have happened to hold the culprits and make them face the law. This is to make society safe from criminal activities.
Considering that the people closest to the occurrences of criminal activities are the general public, not the law enforcement agencies, employing the help of people through whistle-blowing strategies can be helpful. And have been helpful to arraign offenders. There's this common saying that “if you see something, say something.” It's a call to everyone to be vigilant and to report suspicious activities around them. This is indirectly calling on the masses to be whistleblowers.
When it comes to the fight against crimes in our societies, it's a duty of everyone. While the security forces have the firearms and law as their power to enforce their duties to fight against criminal concerns, as the general public, what we have as our power is our voice to speak out, raise awareness and let the law enforcement agencies in charge do their part. The security of the people and the fight against criminality is a duty of society as a whole. We all have a part to play.
I haven't thought of being a whistleblower, in the conventional sense. But if it means calling wrong to order and ensuring criminality is addressed to create a peaceful and healthy atmosphere, I have a place in that. It's said that when you see wrong and don't talk or deal with it because it didn't affect you, a day is coming when it will be your turn. That's worthy of note and to take that we all need to be “whistleblowers” in some way.
Here though is one concern. Are whistleblowers safe? If you wish to see criminal acts being addressed and the perpetrators charged with the law, to foster a good society, are you safe from these criminals, knowing well they are dangerous and take vengeance at any point and anytime? Perhaps, this is the reason the whistle-blowing thing has seemed silent. Nobody would risk their lives for such. This calls for the need to somehow maintain a high level of anonymity for whistleblowers.
There's also a big concern on the authenticity of whistleblowers. Can every call be trusted? What if these criminals disguise themselves or use others, set up the security forces and get them on a quest for vengeance or freedom to do their thing? Seeing the risks on both sides, I'll say this whole whistle-blowing thing would require some deep and intelligent measures to ensure the safety of both sides, and to see this go well; if they choose to continue using this medium.
Images are AI generated.