Scorpion sting

HEALTH AUTHORITIES recently had cause to assure there is no spike in scorpion stings in this country, even with dozens of cases reported in the Nariva/Mayaro county over the last four months.

But it seems the real danger to human life these days is not from predatory arachnids but rather human beings. Especially if one lives in the troubled community of Scorpion Alley, Carenage, which is the latest community in this country to come under siege by gunmen.

Half a dozen people have been killed there in the last three weeks, with the latest incident taking place on Tuesday at Upper Abbe Poujade Street and seeing two brothers, in their 20s and 30s, mowed down by bullets.

The murders of Joshua George and Israel Letren followed other incidents. On July 30, Neyland Glasgow and Dayna Joyles were killed. On August 14, Leon Sylvester and Elijah Brewster were shot dead.

So normalised has violence become in the area, the killers on Tuesday casually walked away.

“They never run or even jog,” one eyewitness said. “They walked out and walked their way.”

That yet another community in this country has fallen prey to criminals acting with impunity and seemingly without concern for the authorities (despite the heavy police presence frequently on the scene in the wake of each incident) should concern the country as a whole.

Earlier this year another community, Trainline Village in St Augustine, came to national prominence owing to a spike in murders there. After much advocacy by the representative for the area, St Augustine MP Khadijah Ameen, and others, Northern Division police escalated their public presence there in May to try to restore confidence.

Scorpion Alley does have a long, troubled history. The area is not far from the affluence of The Buoys, Glencoe, Goodwood Park, Shorelands and Westmoorings. The scene of this week’s murders was a stone’s throw from the Carenage Police Station. Carenage is in the Prime Minister’s constituency. All of this highlights the challenge of grappling with crime, whether gang or otherwise, and flags important socio-economic questions.

Authorities need to quickly grapple with the unfolding situation and close the door to any further escalations. Lessons should be learned from the recent Trainline experience, which triggered so much fear among residents that some said they would flee permanently.

Mobility is not an option for everyone, however, nor is it a solution to our crime problem, which tends to see criminal activity simply move from area to area, even as some areas are designated as permanent “hotspots.”

The authorities should act in a manner that closes the door to concerns about discrimination and neglect. Wherever they occur, and whatever the causes, we need to see murders being treated with the same urgency as, say, a scorpion sting.