I recieved this email from an active witness regarding "hate crimes" against members of the congregation he/she attends. It is interesting as to how the elders are dealing with it.
For some time our hall has been suffering minor vandalism. We have recently done a QB and since then we have had minor problems such as hall sign being ripped off, plants being uprooted, plant pots being broken and stolen. locks glued up etc. In addition to this some of the brothers' cars and property have also been attacked with eggs.
This all points to the damage being done by someone with a grudge who knows whose car is whose and where some brothers live. Indeed there is a pretty strong feeling that everyone knows who it is since an individual was disfellowshipped relatively recently.
The hall has had CCTV fitted now and there has been no more incidents of damage at the hall.
When the hall sign was ripped off the person took it round to a an older sister's house and tried to shove it through her letter box - clearly something that has frightened her. What did an elder do when this happened? Tried to laugh it off with a joke about who had this sister upset?
This has now moved on to more egg attacks against cars parked at brothers' houses and property. Again, this has included older sisters living on their own.
What are the elders doing about it? It seems they have reported the incidents but are refusing to give the police any indication as to who they they think it could be on the advice of WT Legal. They are not stopping individuals affected from reporting things to the police themselves but are refusing to give them any support in terms of saying they can name any suspected individuals even though the police are asking for names. Of course the rumoured individual may have nothing to do with it but the police need something to go on, especially since they are classing it as a hate crime.
The other thing is that they are downplaying the whole thing, trying to laugh it off as silly nonsense. This is fine for Brother Comfortable but no comfort for the older sisters on their own. For them it's frightening and they are not being encouraged to name a name that could result in the whole thing being stopped. It seems their consciences do not stretch to considering what could happen if things escalate. What if the attacks become more violent or dangerous? There will be no more proof about who it is but someone could get injured or have serious damage to their property.
It is also interesting there have been no more attacks since the cameras went up at the hall. The cameras are not easy to see and since the rumoured suspect has family contacts in the hall there is a suggestion they have been tipped off, probably in a an honest attempt to get them to desist, but this does mean it is much harder to get them on camera doing something.
There has been no announcements from the platform about what to do if you are a victim of a crime. Some elders are saying, when asked, to report it. Other's are saying it is being dealt with and they will add the incident to the list and let the police know yet this is not happening in practice even though there is crime reference for it and the police want to be told about every incident. No elder is willing to name a name or explain why WT Legal are saying they can't.
I think this reveals a interesting side to how things work in the minds of the elders that shows there is still no room for elders to act in a way in line with their own conscience. Instead WT Legal are contacted and the party line toed. Individuals are not supported in their efforts to report things to the police. Matters are played down to try and reduce the risk that matters could become public. Vulnerable ones are left without support, strong leadership and the feeling that their concerns, even if unfounded, are being taken seriously and as much as possible is being done as possible.
Of course the situation is not as bad as the child abuse scandal but it does illustrate that the elders are conditioned to act in a way that leaves the flock without the support to feel that they can confidently escalate matters with the police. This worries me greatly in the light of the recent BOE instruction that basically says WT Legal are the judge and jury about who is considered a risk to the congregation.
The person who sent me this asked me to post it on here.
