BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – “SOME things most inhumane are affecting much of the world,” Prime Minister the Honourable Dr. Denzil Douglas said Tuesday during his weekly radio programme, Ask the PM.
Prime Minister Douglas was extending condolences to families of murder victims.
He mentioned two young females specifically.
Last Saturday, the shocking news spread that Kittitian resident Mrs. TaGia Soles-Armony – 29-year-old wife of Kachi Armony and mother of their two small children – had been shot to death the night before in The Bahamas.
That Saturday afternoon, 14-year-old Stancia Lake became the first female teenage murder victim to die from gunfire in St. Kitts and Nevis’ collective memory.
The deaths of TaGia Soles-Armony and Stancia Lake in The Bahamas and St. Kitts, respectively, go not in vain.
They shine a spotlight on a grave problem.
Bullets are flying across the Caribbean, straying most recently into the path of young people who do not fit the typical profile of gun violence victims in these islands. These recent murder victims are young people with no apparent connections to gang and drug activities, and young people of the female gender.
If anything, the murders of TaGia and Stancia may presage a macabre turning point in the senseless gunplay on these islands.
So what are we going to do about it?
Caribbean families must raise their voices and take action to stamp out this cancer
Someone commented on SKNVibes that Mrs. Armony’s senseless killing was “a perfect example of the heartlessness of these killers running loose in the Caribbean”.
The post continued: “They will turn on their mothers and grandmothers much less a woman breastfeeding her baby. The pain of this family and all families who are victims of this type of senseless crime is unimaginable. Caribbean families must raise their voices and take action to stamp out this cancer.”
Another person posted a comment on the website of The Tribune Newspaper in The Bahamas.
“This particular murder grabbed my attention because it appears to have been random,” the person wrote, adding that, “My fear doesn’t usually rise when there’s a murder because I know I’m not dealing drugs, involved in a gang, hanging out in clubs or sleeping with someone else’s spouse…and most murders here seem to have one of those links…but this…a young woman only just reach home shot while taking her baby out of the car…that scares me that we’ve reached this point. Hope it’s not a point of no return.”
Indeed, the murder rate in the Caribbean is metastasizing horribly out of control.
Murder rate increasing in Caribbean, decreasing in dangerous Compton
In fact, the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis is not what it used to be.
According to my calculations, the St. Kitts and Nevis murder rate is higher than The Bahamas’ and Compton’s combined. Moreover, the murder rate for St. Kitts and Nevis is on par with the rate for “murderous” Jamaica.
To calculate the murder rate for St. Kitts and Nevis, one has to divide the number of murders by the number of people living in the area and multiply by 10,000.
According to www.state.gov, St. Kitts and Nevis’ population (2007 est.) is 39,129.
With 23 murders recorded in 2008, St. Kitts and Nevis’ murder rate per capita is 5.88 murders per 10,000 people. So far this year, 18 people have been murdered in St. Kitts and Nevis; 17 in St. Kitts and one in Nevis.
The Bahamas – with a population (2007 est.) of 305,655 – recorded 72 murders last year. That is a murder rate of 2.36 murders per 10,000 people in 2008. Mrs. TaGia Soles-Armony was the 50th murder victim in The Bahamas for this year.
About a decade ago, many people considered Compton in California to be at the point of no return. You may know Compton as the birthplace of gangsta rap, where a plethora of gang gunplay fuels the murder rate.
But the city of Compton, which long ago held the Number One position on a list of the 20 most dangerous U.S. cities, is experiencing a rebirth.
This year, Newsweek Magazine reported that “from 1985 to 2000, Compton averaged 66 murders a year. In the early part of this decade, that figure had dropped to 44. Last year, there were 28 murders”.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2007 American Community Survey, Compton’s population (est.) is 100,037. That is a murder rate of 2.80 murders per 10,000 people in 2008.
Believe it or not, the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis is on par with Jamaica. In early 2008, The Economist Magazine designated Jamaica “the world’s most murderous country”.
Last year, Jamaica – with a population (2007 est.) of 2.7 million – recorded 1,611 murders. That’s a murder rate of 5.97 murders per 10,000 people last year. Jamaican police reportedly attribute the vast majority of murders on the island to gang turf wars over drug-trafficking and extortion rackets.
A look at what may be working for Compton
Gun buyback programmes: While critics charge that gun buyback programmes are not very effective, one such effort in Compton last year resulted in the collection of 1,269 guns. People made exchanges for $100 supermarket cards.
The day before Mother’s Day this year, the LAPD collected 1,700 weapons in a gun buyback programme that encouraged young people to turn in their guns for the love of their mothers. In exchange for weapons, police distributed more than 1,300 gift cards for Ralphs grocery store valued at $130,200 and Visa credit.
During such gun buybacks, police ask no questions and give cash for each working gun. The police melt these weapons, but return stolen ones to their legal owners.
Proponents argue that gun buyback programmes are successful in reducing the number of guns currently available on the streets. However, opponents counter that the real hardened criminals will not part with their guns.
Massive gang intelligence and policing efforts: Wiretaps and other electronic surveillance have assisted law enforcement officials in building cases against Compton gang operatives. Police have made arrests in highly publicized gang raids. They have stepped up police presence in the core gang areas of the 10.5 square mile city.
In late 2007, the LAPD also announced that they would be implementing acoustic gunshot detection technology called SENTRI in Compton.
SENTRI relies on a system of cameras and microphones to pinpoint the source of gunfire immediately within a quarter-mile radius. Upon hearing and locating the source of gunfire, the system instantaneously activates a PTZ (Pan Tilt Zoom) camera to point in that direction. It also sends an alarm to a central police station.
Lynwood police at the Century Station in southern Los Angeles County reportedly praise similar technology called ShotSpotter for playing a major role in reducing murders there by 40 percent over the past four years. Each ShotSpotter microphone in a high crime area has four acoustic sensors that work with the system’s GPS to pinpoint the exact location of gunfire.
Acoustic gunshot detection technology assists law enforcement and medical professionals in detaining suspects and treating gunshot victims promptly.
Where do we go from here? What strategies will we employ?
With Compton’s murder rate at a 25-year low, it is clear that something is working.
We have to find out what it is, and find out soon.
Our island nations are too small.
Gang-infested Compton is 10.5 square miles. However, gang-infested Basseterre where the vast majority of the murders take place in St. Kitts is only three square miles.
Many residents of St. Kitts and Nevis don’t feel safe anymore, and for good reason.
