THE FORCED closure of at least three schools in the Corporate Area and St. Thomas this past week amid a renewed surge in gun violence, is yet another distressing indication of the country's slow descent into anarchy.Reacting to several recent incidents which they see as endangering the lives of their charges, principals have again appealed for beefed-up security on their compounds.
This may be a necessary initial step but cannot be a long-term solution. For one thing, few of the violent flare-ups take place on school compounds. Additionally, armed police and soldiers patrolling educational institutions can hardly contribute to an atmosphere for learning.
What is needed in the schools is also necessary for the communities in which they are located and herein lies the major concern - the security forces seem to have been singularly ineffective in containing the violence in relatively small geographical places in the Corporate Area.
The reports of gang violence and reprisal attacks in sections of Arnett Gardens and Jones Town have been continuing for several months. What has prevented the security forces from implementing the kinds of cordons and searches which they report as being useful elsewhere? What is their intelligence telling them about the root cause of these flare-ups and why are they unable to nab the persons responsible?
Less than two months ago, teachers shut down the Trench Town and Charlie Smith high schools for two days as they expressed anger and frustration over the violence plaguing the areas in which the schools are located and the apparent inertia of the security forces in addressing it. Not unexpectedly, the violence has flared again.
The anarchy that has plagued these communities draws its strength from the absence of leadership. People are basically being left to work out their own salvation while marauding gunmen parade with arrogant contempt day in, day out. In some cases, they no longer wait for the cover of darkness to carry out their nefarious deeds, but are quite prepared to make their attacks in broad daylight. The country cannot continue like this.
In the short-term, there simply must be more patrols in the communities. In the medium to long term, there must be the intelligence-driven operations that chop off the tentacles choking the life out of people of goodwill. And clearly, the people who live in these areas have a responsibility to themselves to share whatever information they have about criminals with the police.
We are not convinced, however, that even the anaemic resources - human and material - of the constabulary and the army are being used effectively. The weekly murder toll indicates this.
The stress levels of the society are well past the danger levels and a social upheaval or implosion will likely result sooner, rather than later. Our security forces need to contain the violence in these small areas before there is a further outbreak of seemingly unconnected but related violent attacks across the country.
