Gangsters no saints

WE CONDEMN, in no uncertain terms, gangs. These modern-day criminal organisations, through their clandestine activities, have changed the face of our nation for the worse. Hundreds, if not thousands, are dead because of them. Billions have been spent trying to fight them. The heartache has been incalculable.

We are therefore constrained to take note of the deeply disturbing views of some residents of St Paul Street, Port of Spain, who this week made the claim that gangs protect them. All the data, all the experience, all the facts, all the common sense suggest the opposite: gangs protect no one.

And yet the residents have at least provided clearer insight into how such cults not only take root, but also maintain their hold.

Just as St Paul was converted to faith, these residents have become apostles of a strange creed. Noting the stigma endured by their community, they claimed these criminals are “peaceful,” steer youth away from crime, reduce larceny and fend off corrupt police.

In a way, such claims are unsurprising.

Gangs, according to the criminology literature, have always operated under the pretence of providing “protection,” money, and a sense of belonging.

But gang life is no priesthood. Having lured their youthful members, the most casual analysis of available reports suggests these entities have no qualms in treating them – and the public – as little more than collateral damage.

Cases of mistaken identity, of people being in wrong places at wrong times, of being sprayed with bullets for crossing some invisible line are spelled out by the bloodletting.

Whatever flimsy “peace” arises, it comes at a heavy price. And it is entirely superficial and self-serving.

The truth is, gangs drain resources, funnel funds from legitimate commerce, damage property values and besiege our courts in ways that undermine the prospect of justice for every citizen.

A St Paul Street shopkeeper’s claim that his store is protected somehow from theft is not only meaningless, but also contradicted by his own report that no deliveries to his shop are possible because of national-level fear.

That same fear of violence is why no one on the street might wish to steal from him; it betrays it is power, not peace, that gangs relish.

This shows us more clearly what the challenge is.

Governments are faced with the task of breaking a vicious cycle. Fear renders people silent and complaisant, but also abuse and misguided beliefs.

Those who hold to such beliefs should consider the pain of relatives of Jonathan Joseph, Jason Alexander, Shaundelle Bernard, Joshua Roberts and Reynold Martinez – but a few of those killed on St Paul Street in recent years.

Such deaths came in circumstances in which the resources of the State have been stretched thin because of gangsters playing saints.