Westworld is an American science fiction thriller television series currently airing on HBO.

The programme takes place in fictional Westworld, a technologically advanced, Western-themed amusement park populated completely by synthetic androids dubbed “hosts”. Westworld caters to high-paying visitors dubbed “newcomers” (also known as “guests”), who can do whatever they wish within the park, without fear of retaliation from the hosts.

There are old western style shootouts in every episode I have watched so far and some occur in the saloon. Onlookers constantly get hit by the flying bullets.

Why anyone would want to pay thousands of dollars to go to an amusement park to be shot at or shoot someone is beyond my comprehension when it would be cheaper to come here to West Bay!

Yes I am being flippant when actually I am horrified.

However, there are similarities going on and that is not amusing to the overwhelming majority of us let alone our tourists.

The following is from Jacqueline Carpenter’s local police report that we published yesterday (Wed 2):

“Around 5:45AM yesterday morning, the police received a report of a discharge of firearm at a residence on Birch Tree Hill Road in West Bay. The complainant had returned home to find a bullet hole through a window. No one was home at the time.

“Yesterday evening, just before 8PM, police and emergency personnel responded to a report of a severe beating of a man near Kelly’s Jerk Stand on Birch Tree Hill Road. The man had been beaten by approximately six men. The victim was taken by ambulance to Cayman Islands Hospital; his injuries are serious but not life threatening.

“Just after this incident, at around 9:30PM, there was a report of multiple shots fired at Super C’s Restaurant on Water Course Road in West Bay. Two masked men had emerged from bushes across the street from the restaurant and opened fire indiscriminately at patrons on the premises. The men then ran through the restaurant car park and made off on foot along the side of an adjoining property.

“One patron, a man, received a gunshot wound to the lower part of his body and was taken to the hospital by private car. His injuries are not considered life threatening. A bullet grazed the arm of a woman, who was treated for minor injuries; information was also received that a bullet had grazed another man, but he did not attend the hospital or report it to the police.”

Anthony Ennis, Acting Commissioner of Police said, “Another truth is that this is not just a police problem but a social problem, with parents probably turning a blind eye to the activities of sons and daughters, as we know that gang affiliation is gender-neutral. I also call community leaders to take positive actions and interventions to stop these senseless killings. It is better to try and save the life of a member of the community than to attend the funeral of the deceased.”

Well said Commish Ennis. It is easy for MLA’s, especially the ones residing in West Bay, to point the finger at the police and blame then for their incompetence and demand action.

The RCIPS have conducted a number of community initiatives at the district town halls around the country where the attendance from the public has generally been abysmal.

I appreciate the distrust between the public and the police and the petty traffic infringements without a fair warning is making things 100% worse. Even tourists are being targeted for going too slow. Absurd.

My wife was even pulled over recently because her car wheels strayed over the white lines on a straight piece of road with no approaching traffic. She told the police officer that and he did not give her a ticket.

Seven of us parked outside a church on a Sunday on a 20ft wide cul-de-sac were ticketed for obstruction!

Most civil minded people will mainly only come into contact with the police through traffic stops and the attitude and manner of the police there leave lasting impressions.

I hope our community leaders will take Commish Ennis’ words seriously and rise to the occasion with positive action. Words are cheap and we are going to hear a lot of rhetoric over the next six months with an election approaching. We will be watching a lot more than listening.

West Bay. We do not want a Westworld on our doorstep.

See also today’s Front Page Story under iNews Briefs “Cayman Islands: Police Operations Undertaken To Prevent Gang-Related Activity; Five Arrests Made”