In the not too dis­tant past, there was an oc­ca­sion when "com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers" were called to talks with gov­ern­ment of­fi­cials to end gang vi­o­lence. That meet­ing took place at a Port-of-Spain ho­tel.

The fact that such a meet­ing was held was con­tro­ver­sial in it­self, and the fact that the T&T Po­lice Ser­vice is now on red alert in re­sponse to the lat­est out­break of gang war­fare at­tests to the fail­ure of that ef­fort.

By their very na­ture, over­tures in a quest for peace with known un­der­world op­er­a­tives reeks of com­pro­mise, and that is nev­er a healthy thing. There ought not to even be the slight­est hint of a meet­ing of minds with the crim­i­nals, de­cep­tive­ly re­ferred to as busi­ness­man and com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers, who are be­hind the blood­shed, vi­o­lence and so­cial break­down in this coun­try.

The busi­ness en­ter­pris­es of gang lead­ers, even when con­duct­ed un­der a thin ve­neer of ac­tu­al com­mer­cial ac­tiv­i­ty, are cov­ers for il­lic­it ac­tiv­i­ties of all kinds, from as­sas­si­na­tions to kid­nap­pings, drugs and arms traf­fick­ing, con­duct­ed in an at­mos­phere of fear, vi­o­lence and ruth­less ex­ploita­tion.

It is not by chance that mem­bers of gangs were up to a few days ago en­gaged in full-fledged war­fare. Their peace pact has trig­gered by the spate of po­lice raids, com­mu­ni­ty lock­downs and the de­ten­tion of sus­pect­ed gang lead­ers.

Over the years and months that the crim­i­nals had the up­per hand, brazen­ly ex­e­cut­ing their ri­vals and show­ing no re­morse for their reign of ter­ror, they had no in­ter­est in peace.

In any case, true peace and se­cu­ri­ty are on­ly pos­si­ble when law en­force­ment and the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem op­er­ates con­sis­tent­ly and ef­fec­tive­ly for the ar­rests and con­vic­tions of the vi­o­lent law­break­ers in our midst.

There can be no com­pro­mise with the crim­i­nals.

Car­ni­val in full flight

With the Na­tion­al Panora­ma se­mi-fi­nals tak­ing place to­day and to­mor­row at the Queen's Park Sa­van­nah, it is safe to say that the 2019 Car­ni­val sea­son is now in full flight.

Of­fi­cial­ly, the reign of the Mer­ry Monarch does not be­gin un­til 4 am on Car­ni­val Mon­day with the procla­ma­tion by the Port-of-Spain may­or at the start of the J'Ou­vert cel­e­bra­tions. How­ev­er, the venue that is the Mec­ca for all things Car­ni­val will be in full use from to­day, with var­i­ous com­pe­ti­tions sched­uled over the com­ing two and a half weeks, cul­mi­nat­ing with the two-day Pa­rade of the Bands.

Here's hop­ing for a safe and suc­cess­ful Car­ni­val, filled with all the colour, rev­el­ry and en­er­gy that sets this fes­ti­val apart from pre-Lenten events held in oth­er parts of the world.