Commissioner of Police says Belize City Remains Volatile

The south side State of Emergency came to an end on Tuesday. More than one hundred residents of Southside Belize City were arrested and bussed to the Belize Central Prison where they were kept away from committing any crime. Over the past weeks, thirty gang members were slowly released. And while these persons are back into society, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams says that Belize City will remain their focus in reducing major crimes.

Chester Williams

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“Belize City remains our number one priority and so yes a lot of emphasis continues to be placed in eastern division. It is extremely thought at time, particularly due to the demographics of south side Belize City where we are seeing that almost every street corner is a gang area and so it makes it difficult for us. It is even more difficult for the simple fact that many of the rivalries we are seeing are inter-gang rivalries so it is already difficult to police gangs are fighting against  other gangs but when you are fighting in house it is not easy for the police to be able to detect and to address and so we have to continue to do what we can through intelligence as well as be more proactive in our operations. This is what we did last weekend. We had to go in different areas and round up those persons who we had intelligence on were involve in the recent spare of shootings and we try to get a grip of that situation. Things are still pretty much volatile in Belize City and myself and Mister Rosado spoke this morning and we continue to see how we can strategize. We are going in a long weekend and we want to ensure that our people remain safe.”