The viciousness that characterises the Corporate Area's internecine gang violence was manifested in a particularly heinous crime on Thursday when a mother and daughter were burnt to death after their house was firebombed in the Torrington Park Housing Scheme, lower St. Andrew.

Although not the first of its kind, and even in a country where the citizenry has become numb to the daily reports of murder and violence of all forms, many people would have recoiled in horror at this manifestation of evil. Among the more painful aspects to this tragedy is the matter-of-fact way in which people reported that the house was targeted and that a reprisal attack was expected in the wake of the firebombing of the house of a woman whose incarcerated son is reputed to be an area leader of sorts. This suggests that many people in the area have adopted a fatalistic approach to life. Yet, they can't be blamed entirely if they have no option to go elsewhere. But the message must be hammered home, their grief notwithstanding, that they have to take more responsibility for the quality of life they live. The security forces can do so much and no more.

If the monster of these inner-city conflicts is to be tamed, then more of the citizens must be prepared to stand together and act in their own defence by cooperating with the security forces to stamp out the evil. The dangers to would-be informants is understood, but there are avenues available, such as Crime Stop, through which information can be passed without the source being revealed. The good people of Torrington Park cannot allow themselves to become mere spectators to the slaughter of their kinfolk.

And yet, Torrington Park's pain has become the wider society's. Murder and mayhem eventually take their toll on the collective psyche of the nation. The presence of armed guards and high-tech security systems can never effectively insulate "the rest of us" from general criminality. Even where acts of violence do not come directly to our doorsteps, we have to pay for its effects collectively at the public hospitals and the higher demand on the resources of the security forces. So, whatever the genesis of this conflict, we are all affected now. We must support the security forces as they carry out their duties, professional and within the law, to deal with the criminals. The answer is not just to fight fire with greater fire, but to employ effective intelligence to flush out the miscreants.

We cannot allow the continued flourishing of a parallel system of jungle justice in which criminals are themselves judge, jury and executioner. That is a recipe for the incremental spread of islandwide anarchy.

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