By helping a beggar you are an accomplice to a crime, by giving away your coins you are inviting them to keep coming back.
The Johannesburg metro police department has issued what it calls a warning to the communities around the Johannesburg. In this warning the police department pleads to community members to stop giving money to the street beggars, they label this act of generosity as a recipe for disaster and a reason behind the growing violent crimes in those communities. Beggars by day and takers by night, the possibility is there so is the possibility of harming genuine beggars who might also join in the phenomenal behavior of beggars turning into takers.
The police indicate the more these beggars receive something is the more they will come back. What he doesn’t indicate is that the money they making begging is way too little to the money they will make if they turn those begging zones into a smash and grab hot spots. The assumption that, by stopping to give to the beggars they will move away is a little farfetched; the question remains what should happen to bring down the crime in the area?
With stats indicating that 80-90% of the beggars are addicts, the crime in these areas will be a lot higher if nothing is done. If the beggars are not going to get the money by the robots they are then gonna resort to other means of making money… Riddle me that.
Article By Dimo Wa Moraswi Sekele
