It’s Part of the Festivities to Burst Firecrackers, Fireworks

Every year, Christmas and New Year festivities come with hundreds of fire crackers and dozens of fireworks across the country. For some, these are all part of the festivities. For others, it’s a nuisance. It is noise pollution and rather frustrating. Some have taken to Facebook, asking the Belize Police Department to target children who are setting of firecrackers on the streets. Police Commissioner Chester Williams says that’s not going to happen.

Chester Williams

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“The idea that some people want for the police to arrest children who are using firecrackers. Firecrackers is a nuisance but when you look at the persons who are discharging firecrackers, there are persons between ages three and 15. Young children. Are we going to arrest a three year old? The law does not permit us to arrest a three year old. Section 25 of the criminal code. Section 25 of the criminal code states nothing done by a child under the age of 12 is an offence. And when it comes to 12 and 14, you have to prove that the child has attained sufficient maturity to be able to understand the nature and consequence of the act that he or she is engaged in. So, how are we going to prosecute a 3 year old or a 4 year old? The parents may be the ones giving them the firecrackers. But if you go after the parents, the parents are going to say, no, they buy it for some way, right? So it’s a very touchy situation, right? And I am sure that all of us here, including you, when we were young, we discharged firecrackers. It’s, it’s the fun that we have as children, right? That is their way of fun, right? So, maybe we just get a picnic at the blight for right now, right? At the very least, what the police is going to do, if we see them with the firecrackers, we’re going to take it away. But we’re not going to prosecute the children, no. Of course, if it is that you are discharging the type of fireworks that rockets out in residential area, it will give the potential for things to go wrong. And, people need to be extremely cautious where that is concerned. And I’ve given the advice before that we just need to exercise extreme caution and be reasonable in doing fireworks.”