Business sector assists police in crime prevention

The business community is reaching out to the Police Department to assist in its crime fighting effort. Today the department received a fully loaded computer and printer courtesy of the Belize Chamber of Commerce. General Manager Kevin Herrera in handing over the equipment this morning to Senior Superintendent Crispin Jeffries, said the community does have a responsibility in assisting in crime prevention.

Kevin Herrera, General Manager, Belize Chamber of Commerce

“This has been an ongoing process, where we had written several letters to the minister pointing out the escalation of crime within the community, that the business community was being targeted, that something had to be done and the Chamber was willing to work with the police force on it. We had a meeting with the minister, along with Senior Superintendent Jeffries, the Commissioner of Police and CEO in the Ministry of National Security, and we agreed on several initiatives.

One, we agree that we’d donate a computer to an area of need within the Police Department, and Ladyville was chosen. We agreed to set up a hotline within the Chamber and we also agreed to set up a committee to look at the implementation of a database in the Police Department where profiling could be done in a much easier fashion; where investigation could be expedited because of the database. We have written and confirmed those agreements in that meeting. So this is the first of several other initiatives that we hope to get on very shortly.”

The computer, the first of many, will be used at the Ladyville Police Station.