Trinidad - It’s been another difficult morning getting my nine-year-old daughter out to school.  Last Thursday, gunshots rang out close to her school around midday.  Living in Morvant, it is not uncommon to hear gunshots, but it’s not usually within such close proximity.  Needless to say, she was too traumatized to attend school on Friday.

Word on the street has it that two rival gangs engaged in an exchange of gunfire from their vehicles at the corner of Plover Street, which if you don’t know is just opposite the Morvant Police Station.

As a parent, it is challenging to educate my children to observe and avoid danger signs and to cultivate a culture of taking safety precautions without at the same time fueling paranoia or a fearful disposition. Finding the right balance is extremely difficult.

Moreover, I have a real problem with these boldface criminals who make a mockery of my right to life and threaten the well being of my family.  Meanwhile the men in our society, the great strategists, tiptoe around the runaway crime situation methodically moving from Plan A to Z.

It’s no small wonder the feminist cry “Put a Woman” because from a woman’s perspective every child is my child, and “you can’t have my child, not my child. Fullstop!”  It’s non-negotiable.

This is our expectation when the authorities use the all to familiar slogan “Zero Tolerance”.  The escalating crime situation is unacceptable, let's take decisive action now!