It is not an exaggeration to use the word massacre to describe the murders of the five men gunned down at Harpe Place in east Port-of-Spain last weekend.
That hail of bullets disrupted a Saturday morning, taking the lives of Rudolph James, Randy Graves, Sgt Larry Phillip, Pete Noray and Devon Jack at the end of a week that had more than its share of disturbing incidents.
The startling revelations in the ongoing Strategic Services Agency probe and the discovery of Hannah Mathura’s skeletal remains in a Valsayn backyard were already too many disturbing incidents for one week when the Harpe Place shootings happened.
It was a jolting reminder that T&T’s many troubles include gang activity, with more than 100 criminal enterprises engaging in high levels of homicide and violence, mainly murders.
Unfortunately, as in the case of the other mass shootings that have been committed in this country, the response from leaders provides no comfort to the citizenry.
There was a voice note from Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher deploring the violence but offering little to inspire confidence from the public.
Similarly, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s attempt to assure citizens that state agencies “will not give up the fight to rid our streets and other places of the evil that is now widespread” missed the mark.
National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds’ condemnation of the incident will not comfort a population now numbed by the ease and frequency with which gangsters engage in brutal criminal acts.
After more than a decade marked by a rapid escalation in gang-related violence, words are not enough, not when there are no signs of progress in attacking this social plague.
While leaders and decision-makers make promises they have been unable to keep and opposition representatives criticise, more and more citizens are dying.
The constant public lamentations of enough is enough now ring hollow.
At this critical stage, nothing less than consistent and decisive action with measurable results will do.
Gang activity must be dealt with as an urgent public emergency, with task forces and other bodies to investigate and prosecute gang members operating concurrently with prevention and intervention measures to dismantle and dissuade gang membership.
Efforts focused on hotspots and crime bosses must be sustained as part of multifaceted efforts to prevent or reduce violence.
Taking examples from other jurisdictions, there has been success with anti-gang measures, and efforts to prevent young people from joining gangs, through a range of initiatives, including after-school prevention programmes.
Long-term, proactive investigations of entire gangs have delivered much better results than reactive, short-term investigations and prosecutions of individuals.
In addition to prosecutors and the police, other professionals, such as educators, clergy, health professionals and the business community, should be engaged in long-term anti-gang interventions.
The Harpe Place incident—just the latest carnage on or near a Housing Development Corporation (HDC) community—exposed the absence of even the most basic measures to deter criminal activities in public housing sites.
It is time for tougher measures, some of which can be included in rental agreements, prohibiting the use, display, or possession of firearms. It might make some difference if gang members, their family members and associates risk eviction if caught using or possessing guns, or engaging in any of the criminal behaviours associated with gangs.
It is time to do something, and try a different approach. No more of the talk which does not deter the gangsters from their murderous rampages.