Hons 392 Haitian Law Enforcement: Personal Troubles or Public Issues

The law enforcement system in Haiti has come unraveled since the devastating earthquake. This has left the country in the hands of looters and criminals. For the surviving locals this has become both a social trouble and a social issue. In most countries like the United States and Great Britain law enforcement is seen as a social issue and is left in the hands of government under stable conditions. According to Tom Leonard's article Haiti earthquake: law and order on a knife edge, now that crime in Haiti has grown relative to the population, locals are helping law enforcers by cracking down on offenders with severe violence. The people are starting to see these criminals as personal violators of their safety. Because this rage and fear is spreading vastly among the individuals it has also become a public issue. The people are stepping up to fight the inadequacy of the police force cause by this natural disaster. These individuals feel like they have to protect the little bit of civilization they have left. It can be seen as a personal trouble in the sense that values cherished by the individuals are threatened. The organized component seen in an action embraced by the masses makes it a public issue. This analysis of this event is based off the definitions of personal trouble and public issues given in C. Wright Mills' The Promise. The people are beginning to see law enforcement as their responsibility. When asked about the public's violent participation in law enforcement, one of the natives said, "It's not good justice but if they don't do it nobody else will."

For most, fear is the catalyst for this meshing of public issues and personal troubles. This shows that natural disasters and huge social disturbances can cause a shift in how individuals view themselves and their situation relative to society. In this particular event, the Haitians made law enforcement a personal responsibility and crime a personal trouble for themselves, while the average middle class American living in a stable environment sees law enforcement as the government's responsibility. When the United States dealt with the natural disaster of Katrina, similar shifts in individual's views were also seen. These disturbances shook the social order and perspectives of two different cultures showing that any society is susceptible to shifts in what is considered personal troubles and public issues when fear and disaster strikes.