A “Palestinian holder of Egyptian travel documents kept 750 grams of hashish in a car he parked about 200 meters from the General Department for Criminal Investigations, which offices the General Department of Drugs Control. Also, he chose to deliver a quarter gram of hashish worth KD 400 at the parking lot of the same department,” (Arab Times March 17, 2010).
Perhaps what is ironic about the recent drug related crime, besides its stark violation of our laws; is the utter stupidity of the alleged culprit! Yet, irony in this regard turns into cynicism when we consider the recent crime in the context of our general security situation. With less manpower, fewer number of police patrols, an apparent lack of more aggressive policing tactics; petty criminals, like the Palestinian hashish dealer, will definitely enjoy their time. We need to put in place newer policing strategies which can help us predict not just the usually cunning criminals, but also those violators of our law who happen to be very stupid.

For example, what characterize the recent hashish crime is the lower-grade mentalities of these new kinds of criminals: morons; obtuse [thickheaded] culprits. We have already been used to hearing or reading about somewhat crafty thieves and criminals, yet the alleged Palestinian perpetrator seemed to have initiated a new kind of criminal culture in our local environment: dull-witted who seemed to have been used as paltry instruments of their more clever bosses. 
In addition, experts and observers of our local security situation may agree that there is a difference between an occasionally stupid criminal and a “very stupid” one. A dumb a...” culprit, like the hashish thug, introduces a new kind of criminality; that of the absolutely brainless! Monitoring, observing, and even investigating and capturing such stupid individuals may become a daunting task for our professional crime investigators. What is intimidating and may perhaps prove demoralizing for security men is to adapt their day-to-day strategies to capture the very stupid criminal: it is obviously stupid to store hashish in one’s car by the General Department for Criminal Investigations! The hashish dealer was not even satisfied with his precarious position, but started selling his illegal commodity to disguised police officers.

Fortunately, he was arrested red-handed. He needs to be punished not once, which surely he will, but twice; distributing and selling hashish in front of the security institution responsible for fighting drug crimes. Moreover, he should be punished for revealing his utter ignorance and lack of common and “criminal” sense!
The overwhelming dilemma relating to the recent hashish crime is: how to adopt different security procedures to capture such culprits?

khaledaljenfawi@yahoo.com