Supt. Howell Gillett Leads Belmopan Police in Outreach Initiative

Howell Gillett

Earlier we told you about the arraignment of two Roaring Creek residents for the murder of twenty-four year old Corwin Mendoza. Mendoza had been missing since Sunday following an altercation that ended with him being stabbed multiple times, bashed in the head and his body dumped in the creek. But there is some good news coming out of the Belmopan jurisdiction, which is policed by Superintendent Howell Gillett and the over eighty officers under his command. This past Saturday, about seventy-five percent of the precinct participated in simultaneous meetings with residents in various areas of Belmopan and Roaring Creek. The people were given the opportunity to voice their opinions on the crime situation and to give suggestions in the developing of a strategy to address gangs. Superintendent Gillett told News Five today about the success of the community outreach effort.

Supt. Howell Gillett, O.C., Belmopan Police Formation

“We visited areas within San Martin, Las Flores, Piccine, simultaneously with Roaring Creek and what we discovered is that there were two generic comments or suggests coming out of those interactions. And those were people asking for police presence in the area and the other one was there were some people who raised the concern that they prefer to text in information to the station that are not urgent information to a number at the station. The people have spoken on those and we are smart enough to listen to the public. So what will happen, as a matter of fact, as of next week, we will have a police officer assigned to Las Flores Community Center. We’ve gotten word from that community that it is okay for us to use one of the rooms of the community center as a precinct and that officer will be there on a daily basis. And then we will reinstate the officer that was once at the clinic near to the UB gymnasium here in Belmopan. So that will allay some of the concerns that were raised in that regard. But that’s just a temporary fix. So we will develop a strategic plan as to how to deal with the gang situation that is now developing in the Las Flores area. As a matter of fact, we’ve had a meeting since then and we will seek expert advice on a way forward to address those. So in essence we heard from the public and we are now responding to what their concerns are and in that we believe that we could have a better relationship with the general public if we look after their concerns regardless of what it might be.”