Global Security, Privacy, & Risk Management

3rd Wave of Pirates? Law Enforcement Needed? (really?) September 7, 2011

According to Jay Bahadur, author of The Pirates of Somalia, a new wave of more younger, more violent pirates may be on the rise.   You can read the interview here.  While I agree with Mr. Bahadur on many of his points, he states that the immediate solution to piracy is ‘law enforcement on land’.  I feel this is a ludicrous statement.  ‘Law enforcement’ in a failed state provides no purpose.  To have effective law enforcement you must first have governance.  Right now Somalia is largely a lawless land.  The per capita income is estimated at around $0.89 US per day.  The incentive for piracy is simply too great to dissuade piracy.  While I applaud Mr. Bahadur for his efforts at writing the book, his suggestion that law enforcement on the land will stop piracy is another example of an arm chair quarterback taking a very linear, simplistic view of a complex situation.  Law enforcement is needed but is simply not possible until there are a number of other pieces put into place.