So, I waited nearly three hours for a recent criminology conference press briefing to start, thinking that I should have been at that time presiding over this newspaper’s story conference and decking stories to its sections left and right.

Luckily, it turned out to be no conference of eggheads, and there was actually a lot of meat to chomp on from those academic bones that were thrown at us journalists on the sidelines of the three-day Asian Criminological Society (ASC) meeting.

As a criminology instructor I had, I have to admit, a special interest in what was to be said by a whole global village of crime experts, all gathered to swap stories about bad guys, bad laws, and the technology that’s making their jobs a living hell.

You’d think those crime brainiacs would be all about numbers and theories. Nah. Even they could not ignore the juicy stuff. You know, the way the internet has turned into a superhighway for crooks, and the way governments are still stuck in the Stone Age when it comes to fighting cybercrime.

It’s like we’re playing whack-a-mole with these guys (criminals not the criminologists), and they’re multiplying faster than bunnies. Sure, in this age of big data, we’d like to think we’ll have a crystal ball on crime, but nope. Those guys were practically begging for better numbers, better analyses. It’s like trying to fight a war blindfolded.

This was as this Contrarian told them that the police have been reporting crime solution efficiencies of 80 percent and above which, if true, would make the Philippines the envy of such nations as the United States. The figures, however, elicited nothing more than raised eyebrows.

But here’s the kicker: These smart folks aren’t just about the theory. As ASC president and Center of Excellence in Digital Forensics director Dr. R. Thilagaraj emphasized, criminologists are trying to elbow their way into the policymaking game.

Imagine that — people who actually know something about crime telling the government what to do to combat criminality through prevention and solution. Now, that’s a novel idea that may have escaped our lawmakers’ radar.

Of course, the Philippines was the elephant in the room. A crime-bedevilled archipelago with a justice system that turns oh-so-slowly. Still, even with all the problems, there was a flicker of hope. The criminologists said they were holding their own, learning, and sharing. And that’s a start.

That crime is fast becoming a global business was the buzz among conference attendees. Drug cartels, human traffickers, and cybercriminals are operating on a worldwide scale. Somehow we feel that we’re dealing with multinational corporations of evil holding board meetings in Bangkok and product launches in Brazil.

And then there’s the whole issue of terrorism. It’s not just about bombs anymore. Those guys have become as savvy as any tech startup, using social media to recruit, spread propaganda to radicalize, and encryption to hide their tracks. Yup, we’re in a never-ending game of cat and mouse with those digital crooks. And we need to start thinking bigger.

We need international cooperation on everything from data sharing to law enforcement training. We need to invest in technology that can outsmart the bad guys. And most importantly, we need to start treating crime like the public health crisis it is.

It’s going to be a long, tough fight, and I left the conference with dark rain clouds unleashing their torrents of water as I drove away, feeling not a bit less cynical that there’s a clear path to turning the tide on crime. I felt like I was driving in dark Gotham City with no way to turn the bat signal on and call for help.