Cops look to improve community policing
In the old days the neighbourhood cop on the beat was the very essence of police work. Somewhere along the line we strayed from that concept to the point at which today community policing is viewed as some exotic new weapon in crime prevention. But however you view it, more police contact with citizens can only be a good thing. Jacqueline Woods reports.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Community policing is very much a part of the crime prevention initiative that has been active in Belize City. Zone Beat Liaison Officers like P.C. 389 Sylvestre Martinez and P.C. 235 Eliezer Chuc visit neighbourhoods to listen to residents’ concerns and see what both parties can do to address the problems.
P.C. Chuc to Shopkeeper
“What do you think about crime in general?”
Shopkeeper
“You all doing a good job, I accept that you all doing a good job, but what happen is that these people ride on bicycles too, it’s something that is very fast. The last time they came in here, this guy when he came in here to assault me he came with a bicycle. He dropped his bicycle right by weh the Coca-Cola is and he seh, “excuse me, I’m sorry.” And when he says excuse me I am sorry, he tek his weapon and say give me everything you have.”
Police Constable Martinez, who has been on the beat for more than two years, says while there are some members of the public willing to support them, the job becomes a little bit more difficult when you have to establish a working relationship with people who do not want to cooperate.
P.C. Sylvestre Martinez, Zone Beat Liaison Officer
“Like they always say that information is a very difficult thing to get, especially from our Belizean people. They are afraid, I don’t know why they are afraid, but they are afraid to come up front and explain to me into detail as to information.”
This morning we accompanied Martinez and Chuc as they walked through Lake Independence and Kings Park.
P.C. Martinez to children
“What you all are doing here, you shouldn’t have done this. You know what’s this? Chalupa, you are gambling. You all supposed to not be gambling here, so I would advise you all to pick the boards and put them in.”
P.C. Sylvestre Martinez
“It is illegal whenever you find somebody gambling and you physically see that they are gambling because you saw money involved. But apart from that, I couldn’t’ have said that somebody is gambling unless I saw money.”
P.C. Chuc to resident
“You live here? How is the area?”
Resident
“Sometimes we have some group of guys who come around and what we try to do, we try call the police station. But whatever happen in our neighbourhood, we just try get together and handle it too.”
The neighbours are also being encouraged to start a watch programme of their own to help fight crime in their area.
P.C. Martinez to resident
“We are still launching our neighbourhood watch programme and as time go by, we are trying to get more people involved. A lot of people are so positive at this time and I hope it continues this way.”
The residents had a number concerns about illegal activities taking place in their area and putting their children’s lives at risk. Martinez says that is one reason why the public should get involved in protecting their neighbourhood.
P.C. Sylvestre Martinez
“The neighbourhood watch as we know, is a programme will bring our community together and by bringing our community together, we need to educate them, we need to inform them what will happen and how they will go about doing this neighbourhood watch programme.”
The police say they might not have the resources they’d like to run a programme like the Z.B.L.O., but they manage to get by. The programme was introduced in 1995, and while it’s difficult to assess its success, most of the residents we spoke to were receptive and grateful for the attention. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.
The police also conduct other crime intervention initiatives including visits to schools.
