Police Say a New Gang has Emerged on the City’s Streets
Edward Broaster
There’s a new gang in town – that’s one of the messages coming out of the Belize Police Department tonight. Prior to last weekend’s spike in gun violence, there had been a relative lull when it comes to shootings across the country, specifically so during the months of March and April, which in previous years have recorded high numbers of murders. According to police, their investigators have discovered that the “New Southside Killers” is a group of thugs that seemingly has no respect for the law and has been threatening citizen security. But who are the members of the N.S.K. and why have they not been dealt with by the Gang Suppression Unit or any other policing strategy is anyone’s guess. Deputy Commissioner of Police Edward Broaster did not go into great details to explain the strategy or intervention that will be used to arrest this gang.
Edward Broaster, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations)
“Through the intelligence mechanism that we’ve had, we have identified those individuals and we have put strategies in place to mitigate that. There are a lot of conflicts that occur throughout the city that we have to be dealing with on a daily basis, aside from patrolling the areas of concerns that would decrease citizen security.”
Reporter
“New Southside Killers; is that a rebranding of old criminals and new? Can you explain that?”
Edward Broaster
“No, that’s not a rebranding of old criminals. Those are young persons who seemingly believe that they are invincible and they can do as they please.”
Duane Moody
“How will you address that outside of your strategy, outside of mitigation, outside of mediation and all of that?”
Edward Broaster
“It is not outside of our strategy. As I had mentioned, the investigation into the different gang elements and gang groups that we are conducting and the subsequent guilty pleas of those individuals that have been arrested. They only change their plea because of the evidence that were before them based on the disclosure that they obtained. So rest assured, we have our investigators and our intelligence out there dealing with the situation and we will be able to prosecute those who are involved and are hell-bent in committing crime.”
Recently, four men: Tevin Cacho, Ulide Allen, Akeem Augustine and Jeffery Buller were charged separately for alleged gang involvement. Allen and Augustine are accused of being members of the PIV Bloods, while Buller and Cacho are fingered as members of the Backa Lands Crips.
