If ever there was a 'mix up' community, it is the 'Sunshine City' hopeful of Portmore, St. Catherine.

The largest collection of residents in the English-speaking Caribbean, it is a warren of concrete where the professional working person and the professional idler often live within noisy, toilet-flushing distance of each other, with very little to keep two very different outlooks of life separate.

And now, added to that already potentially fractious mix, is the problem of squatting.

As THE STAR reported on Saturday, Councillor Owen Saunderson told a recent Portmore Municipal Council meeting that squatters near Rodney's Arms, where several houses have been erected and an informal community has started, are committing some of the murders and other crimes that take place in Portmore.

Strong objection

Of course, this is a very sweeping statement to which, no doubt, the residents of that particular area will take very strong objection. And, certainly, if Mr. Saunderson has any evidence to support this allegation, then he should pass it on to the police.

Still, it is a very strong possibility that the statement reflects a general sentiment, supported by patterns that the people who feel the brunt of the crimes have noticed.

It is evident, then, that the immediate strategy should be to prevent new squatting. Those who are already established will be very difficult, if not impossible, to remove, but there is no reason why new entrants should not be dealt with before they get a chance to settle.