Police Response to Recent Gun Violence in the City

And while these recent incidents may not all be related, there is concern over citizen security. Communications Director of the Belize Police Department, Assistant Superintendent Fitzroy Yearwood says that since the murder of Benjamin Hyde Senior on Sunday, June nineteenth, the department has stepped up its patrols across the city.

ASP Fitzroy Yearwood

ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, Communications Director, Belize Police Department

“For now we’ve made an arrest in that case and we are pursuing someone for the murder on Eleventh Street and we are definitely hot on the trail for this murder this morning. So while you saw our investigators on the ground, we do have our specialized units that are responsible for looking for these wanted persons and make sure or try to ensure the safety of the other citizens in this beautiful city of ours. We know that the city is not out of control, but we know that law-abiding citizens like your grandparents, my mother, my father, other people’s grandparents, when they hear one murder, it is too much for them. So we want to assure them that the police presence will be in the streets. We will continue to go hard after these criminal elements that we believe are responsible for people not feeling safe in their own homes and we will stop at nothing. We will increase our patrols. And we are asking the general public; it might look like nothing major to you, but report every crime that you see because each crime could be connected to a larger crime.”