ComPol Chester Williams Explains Crime Figures
2020 saw a major reduction in crime across the country. The COVID-19 regulations played a major role in crime reduction; the Police Commissioner Chester Williams disagrees. He says that the reduction of crime for 2020 is due to the hard work of police officers. Hipolito Novelo takes a closer look at the numbers.
Hipolito Novelo reporting
Fighting crime is by no means an easy task, and for top cop Chester Williams, the buck stops at him. As Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams is seen as the man who is responsible for reducing crime. He was appointed to the post on January ninth 2019, and today, Williams sees his first two years in office as a success.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
Chester Williams
“It is a good feeling and I know that under my leadership we have seen a significant reduction in crime and I am not going to take all the credit for it. I will applaud the men and women of the Belize Police Department who are always there doing their utmost best to ensure that the mandate of the department is achieved.”
Commissioner Williams is right. During his two years in office, there seemed to have been a significant decrease in major crimes. Murder, for example, saw a reduction of twenty-three percent with one hundred and two murders recorded in 2020 compared to the one hundred and thirty-four numbers recorded in 2019- thirty-two murders less. The months of April and June recorded three murders separately, the least amount of murders for 2020 in any given month. February and March recorded the highest. The Orange Walk District recorded the least number of murders with three, and the Belize District recorded the highest, fifty-nine murders.
Chester Williams
“I can tell you that our most significant decrease was in the Belize District, particularly in San Pedro which only saw one murder in 2020 compared to I think over twelve we had in 2019. And we also have in Belize City, within the precinct four recorded no murder in 2020 and in 2019 precinct four may have recorded some three or four murders. In the region one area, which is known as south side, there was also a decrease compared to the previous area. So we are happy with the decrease. Yes we wanted it to be more but you know we cannot control or we cannot prevent every crime from occurring.”
But what might have helped in that regard is the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect.
Rape, burglary, robbery, theft, and unlawful sexual intercourse- all major crimes- saw a significant decrease in 2020. These crimes typically happened in the night and required the perpetrator to be on the move. But the COVID-19 regulations prohibited movement to an extent, and the curfew prohibited citizens, including the criminals, from being out in public at night. But Commissioner Williams says that the reduction of major crimes is because of the invaluable work of his officers.
Chester Williams
“We have to give credit where credit is due. COVID does not reduce or increase crime. Crime is reduced based on how we as a society, as well as the police respond. Police cannot take all the credit at the end of the day because the police are only one element that has to address the issue of crime.”
Ninety-one of the persons murdered in 2020 were males, and sixty-nine of the murders occurred in urban areas. Eighty murders were committed with a firearm, and the motives for the majority of the murders were drug and gang-related and retaliation. The issue of crime is more pronounced in Belize City’s southside, where multiple gangs operate.
On the south side of the Old Capital, gang members are bred to be drug runners and killers. They are forced into gang life, and if they resist, they become a target like twenty-four-year-old Raheem Gordon. He escaped the second attempt on his life last year.
[File: September 14, 2020] Voice of: Mother of Shooting Victim
“They are just jealous because my son doesn’t hang with them. He doesn’t want to be gangbangers with them. Only those PIVs have beef with my son. For what reason? I do not know. Because he is not a gangbanger, none at all.”
The issue of crime has to be addressed holistically. Key facets of society must meet and engage in a collaborative effort to address the root causes of crime. Addressing the issue starts within the family. There have been attempts, but most have been futile, and the gang culture within south side Belize City continues to exist.
Chester Williams
“We must have the input of the society. We must have the input of other government agencies as well as non-government agencies. We must have the input of families because families do have significant impact on these young men who are out there hunting each other with the view to kill themselves. Often times the response that these young men get are not what could be more conducive in preventing them from becoming a gang member and sometimes the environment for which they live itself is one that promote one thing or encourages them to be one thing but to be a gang member. Unless they are so strong minded and so determined to say you know what even though I am from this gang ridden area, I am going to make a difference, I am not going to be a gang member. I am going to be strife to be different.”
But being different in gang-ridden areas can spell trouble for young men, but like the Commissioner said, if they are serious, these young men can live different lives, and organizations like the CYD and its mentorship program make it possible. And if that becomes a reality, the success would be reflected in the crime figures. Reporting for News Five, I am Hipolito Novelo.
