“The crime around here is out of control. It’s not even safe...

“The crime around here is out of control.  It’s not even safe to walk down the street.  People are snatching bags and phones in broad daylight.  And it’s even more dangerous when the sun goes down.  It’s bad for business.  Our customers are being scared away.  The police aren’t doing anything, so we’re forced to take matters into our own hands.  Recently one of my customers had his car broken into.  While I was repairing his shoe, we heard glass shatter.  And we saw three guys running away with his laptop computer.  I chased one of them down, caught him by the shirt, and began to beat him.  I made him call his brothers and tell them he was about to be killed.  Sure enough, they brought back the laptop.  So I let him go.  But the police came to my store the next day, and told me that I shouldn’t have taken matters into my own hands.  They said next time I’d go to jail.  But what am I supposed to do?  Let my customers be robbed?  Soon we won’t have any customers left.   If police aren’t willing to stop the crime, we must do it ourselves.”  
(Johannesburg, South Africa)