America was at one time supposed to be the land of milk and honey and every educated Indian wanted to go to the "new world" and settle there. This has not changed, but the new lot are a bit wary of the prevalence of crime particularly with regard to abductions, kidnappings for sex which now dominate the scenario. The worst part of this entire scene is that tens of such crimes go undetected, which is a sad commentary on the efficacy of the FBI and the local US police. It is unfortunate that the FBI which is the nodal agency for an interstate crime like kidnapping and abduction is unable to trace girl victims for years. One wonders as to how an agency with the latest gadgetry is unable to detect such crimes. One could perhaps accept this with a pinch of salt, but the fact that so many girls are missing for years is, to say the least preposterous.
A look at some of the crimes makes sad reading. There was the case of a man, a Hispanic who kidnapped 3 girls and kept them in a small dungeon under his house. The girls were kept secluded as they were used to pleasure the man and he also fathered a child from one of them. The worst thing was that the girls have been kept in a house a little distance from where they were abducted. Only after the passing of a few years one of the girls could escape from the underground chamber and alert the police, who raided the house and arrested the man. What a travesty of the police word, as such an elite force could not discover the girls who were just a few hundred yards from where they were kidnapped. The police have a lot to answer, but in America, nobody is asking any questions of the police and I don't find any NGO or other group posting any questions to the police. This is not an isolated incident, but there are tens of such cases.
Reminds of another case where a 13-year-old was given to a man as compensation for financial favors and he also kept her and another girl for years till a neighbor alerted the police. All have been arrested including the mother of the girl. One wonders whether the police have a mechanism to check houses or only believe in driving round the roads in swank cars or Harley Davidson bikes on the road. They are trigger happy, but their detection of crime is, to say the least poor.
One problem that confronts America is race and the police are severe on the black man, but a white is likely to get away. This is because the US police have racial blinkers. Yet, the rape cases are the highest in the world and so are abductions and kidnappings for sex. Many whites do it and get away for years till the law catches up with them. There needs to be a focused investigation by the police and I have a feeling that after a few months, a kidnapped girls case remains on file as the police go after newer cases. Thus so many kidnappings go unsolved, which does not speak highly of a professional force.
Considering that the US has the largest instances of rape in the world, this apathy and low criminal convictions is again something that has to be explained. Perhaps the approach of the public also needs to change as can be seen by a sentence of 6 months jail for a man. It turned out that the boy was a champion swimmer and that was a condoning factor, which again is very sad. The boy was raping an unconscious girl on the roadside, till passers by apprehended him.I think such cases and convictions contribute more to the crime scenario in the US. This apathy towards rapists and kidnappers has in a way percolated to the police and the result is more unsolved crimes. The case usually becomes just a number in the record books, but the girls life is irretrievably destroyed.
It is about time the US police and public did some soul searching and streamlined their procedures and actions. Let's see if there will be a change, but I doubt it.