The Anjuna-Siolim-Assagao belt has long been de-sanitised bya horrific racket of drugs and prostitution, so much so that it’s not evendebatable.
Now the ante has been upped. People are just getting killed.For the Goa police, life goes on. People are falling like nine pins in NorthGoa. Four killings this month in the Anjuna-Siolim-Mapusa belt, with policestations reeling with staff and vehicle shortages, has exposed the lack ofammunition to fight crime – literally and figuratively. In a dark comedy,straight life from old Hindi movies we grew up watching, the police always appears,if at all, much after the crime is committed with virtually no clue of murdererand motive till it is too late.
These killings couldn’t have happened at a worse time forthe system. They took place when Goa’s best IPS officer Vijay Singh sitsshunted in the traffic department, for actually doing good work, replaced by aGoa state service’s Vishwesh Karpe as SP North Goa. At the same time, fun andparty loving IG Sanjay Singh, whose government car was given out to foreignwomen for leisurely drives has been transferred, sealing the argument that“Delhi officers, come to Goa to party.” So what do we have? A rare good Delhiofficer is shunted because he was doing good work and a party loving IG istransferred because of his colourful nightlife. Meanwhile, for the local policeboys, its business as usual. The biggest grouse against policing in North Goa isthat the system reacts to specific incidents and has one way of handling them –douse the fires at hand and get on. Isolated though gory incidents can be treatedbut that won’t stop North Goa from slipping into complete lawlessness.
The nexus between cops and criminals is far too set.Solutions aren’t easy because the common methods of solving crime like havingproper beat policing won’t work in Anjuna. The system needs a reboot. It needsto be freshly staffed, all information on the nexus should be followed up andthe policemen arrested and punished.
But there is no optimism and only helplessness. The peopleof North Goa’s coastal belt pray for a new league of extraordinary gentlemanand even better officers to protect them. This hope seems as close to gettingfulfilled as that of a single day in Anjuna without cocaine getting snorted ora prostitute going out for business.
