Tuesday, October 28, was a day with a tragic toll for the country: three people were killed within a few hours, for completely banal reasons. A father was killed by his son in Durrës, a pizzeria owner in Tirana was stabbed to death over a bowl of ham, and a tourist was stabbed to death in front of his children, inside the walls of the Berat castle, because he refused to pay for a photo with a horse.
On the streets of Albania, human life is being devalued at a frightening rate. A few days ago, in Durrës, two young men were murdered over an espresso, just a few meters from a police station. The victims and perpetrators were armed, known to the police, wanted abroad — and yet, free to shoot at people.
Crime is no longer just killing behind the scenes; it has become part of everyday life, visible, brutal, without any sense of fear or punishment. The country is slipping into a frightening normality where any argument, insult or misunderstanding can end in tragedy.
In this atmosphere of violence, the one who should speak first is missing: the state. Interior Minister Albana Koçiu and the General Director of Police, Ilir Proda, choose to appear in propaganda videos, talking about imaginary police "actions" against those who ride skateboards, while the real crime is bleeding innocent people every day.
When citizens ask for explanations, strategies, preventive measures, not a word comes from Proda and Koçiu. There is neither reflection, nor analysis, nor effort for public education or cooperation with schools, communities, psychologists. Silence! And meanwhile, Albania counts victims.
This is a failure that goes beyond a lack of professionalism. It is a moral crisis of a system that has learned to hide failure behind digital facades and "official communications." A police force that no longer feels responsible for preventing, but only for counting victims.
If law enforcement officials wanted to understand the reality that citizens are experiencing, it would be enough for them to go out into the field — without cameras, without escorts, without propaganda. To listen to the people who no longer sleep peacefully. Because when the state is silent, crime screams. And today, in Albania, it is screaming louder every day.
