ComPol Talks 2019 Crime Stats!
Earlier in the newscast we reported on the first murder of 2020. In the coming days, the Police Department will release the official stats with a full breakdown of the numbers. But today the Commissioner of Police Chester Williams spoke about the murders, of which he says, there were one hundred and thirty-four recorded in 2019 – that’s nine fewer than 2018. It is a minimal decrease, but according to ComPol Williams, it is worth noting. Williams says that Belize’s crime numbers have gone down when compared to the last three years and also when compared to other countries in the region. He says that while the department has come under harsh public criticism, there is only so much the police can do when it comes to tackling certain crimes. Here’s more from Williams.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“When we compare our stats to 2018, we have a reduction in crime of little under ten percent. For us, that is an achievement that is worth mentioning. Yes, we would have wanted it better but I am sure you are going to understand the complex situation within which some of the crimes are occurring that are not within the reach of the police to readily prevent based on law enforcement efforts. But we try as best as we can to see how best we can solve these crimes when they occur. 2019 was indeed challenging. It was a year where we saw some very heinous crime. When we look across the Caribbean, Belize is one of the only countries that have a reduction in murder when compared to 2019. Our murder count is lower than 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 is lower than all of those previous three years. So, it shows that we did do some good work. Are we happy with it? The answer is no. Now that we are in 2020, we now have a 20-20 vision of 2019, so now we are going to use that vision to see how we can enhance our efforts for 2020. We know that the issue of murder is our number one priority. While we see a number of persons on social media condemning the police when a murder occur or impute the occurrence to the police, I must say that for the most part those accusations made of the police in terms of being ineffective are unjustified. Many of the murders that occurred in 2019 are not murders that the police could readily prevent. The murders that the police have more control over are the gang related murders and I believe that we did exceedingly well in containing those in 2019. How are we going to know when a person is going to kill his mother and father in his home? How are we going to know when a husband and a wife are going to argue and one kill the other one?”
