Additional Measures to Combat Gang Violence

Chester Williams

The senseless murder of Dwayne Gabourel has incensed the Belizean community, prompting the Belize Police Department to take additional measures in addressing the pervasive gang violence that has taken hold of Belize City.  While the Commissioner of Police did not disclose those measures, he gave his word that all resources will be expended in solving the murder of the teenager.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“I want to assure her that we will do what we can to find the perpetrator and to bring him to justice. There’s a lot that we’ll be doing operationally to address the gang problem in Belize City and I know it is not going to be easy because we do have attorneys out there who monitor everything the police do and as we do something that they believe is a violation of their clients’ human rights, we are sued and the government is made to pay. Just to highlight some of what will be done over the next few weeks, without divulging our operational strategy. We have a number of these gang members who have cases before the court. In some cases, we believe that the cases against them are very, very strong, we have good evidence. I will task our prosecution director, Ms. Alifah Elrington, along with my legal office or my legal team to look at these cases and we’re going to fast-track some of those prosecutions against those gang members. The cadre of lawyers we have at the police headquarters will also be deployed to prosecute some of these cases.”