Crime in Lithuania

Nowadays crime is very associated with our modern world. Unfortunately, it’s not as safe as we would like to be so we must do everything we can in order to improve our own safety.

Crime is a very serious problem in nowadays Lithuania. The criminal situation in my country is much worse than in other western European countries. It’s quite difficult to feel safe late at night or even in the evening in the streets as you can simply be mugged. Much more dangerous can be walking in the streets alone also in the evening, so people are advised to go by cars instead of walking alone and not to have a lot of expensive things such as mobile phones, cameras, watches, huge amounts of cash or other valuable things which might catch the offenders eye. Furthermore, the most common crimes are vandalism and hooliganism as usually young people destroy other peoples’ possessions. Moreover, much worse situation is for women as it’s much easier to bully a woman than a man. What is more, rape is quite an often crime in Lithuania, so women and young girls can’t feel really safe here not just in evenings but even during the day. Of course, very cruel and horrific offences happen in Lithuania as well but they do not happen very often and are most associated with local gangs and offences such as money and document forgery, drug dealing, smuggling, kidnapping and even murder.

Of course, this situation is a result of quite bad country economical situation, low individual education and lack of values, but I think that this is a consequence of quite changeable political system in Lithuania. As you know, our country is quite a young so there aren’t a lot of traditions of how to rule the country as even most of politics are corrupt so not a surprise that the punitive measures have too many vulnerable spots. I think that the punishment in Lithuania should be much harsher. As nowadays criminals escape without being punished too often. Usually, people for very small crime are fined large amounts of money or even sent to prison while other very dangerous criminals get away. Furthermore, the police officers are also not very qualified so they can’t secure the citizens against danger. That shows that the criminal and the punishment situations in Lithuania are not at as good standards as they should be.

But it’s not as bad as it might show. One’s safety is just one’s responsibility and there is a huge number of things we can do to protect ourselves and our property. First of all, people should choose the most safe area to live in. For example, my house is set in a quite safe part of Mazeikiai as it is a private houses zone and there are no shabby or untended houses around. It’s a dead-end street so just a few cars can drive in the street, there are just 19 houses in our street so we all know each other and might get help if it’s needed. As I have just mentioned, the neighborhood is also very important. You don’t even need to have very watchful and nosy neighbors but it’s great when they are your friends and if they can keep an eye on your house whenever you ask. It will make you feel much safer. What is more, it’s very useful to install the burglar alarm in your house and car as it might reduce the chances to be burgled. Moreover, you must always protect your property by remembering to lock your house doors, shut the windows and do not let understand what valuable things you have by leaving empty boxes near dustbins or leaving expensive things unattended in the yard. Furthermore, it might be quite useful to attend self-protection course if unlikely you would be attacked in the street while you’re all alone.

All in all, I think it’s impossible for one man to improve security system in Lithuania and make everybody feel really safe, but with help of local councils, country government and all citizens it might be much easier to make our country a safer place to live in.