Police tightening up security measures at public events

And while police have made inroads in the grenade attack, cops are working overtime to tighten security around the city in light of the many activities planned this month. One such event which is expected to attract a large crowd is an open air reggae concert scheduled for this coming Saturday at the M.C.C. Grounds.

Crispin Jeffries, Assistant Commissioner of Police
“I certainly don’t think that one can look forward to such an incident; that somebody would go there wanting to throw a grenade. However, every possible security arrangement is being made to secure the grounds, we’ll clear the grounds, we have our demolition people present, we will have our police numbers increase. The organisers are paying for added police presence to ensure that the people can feel safe. We are looking at how they have sectioned off the grounds and the distance from the fence and the street is a far distance from where anybody who will be inside the grounds participating in the even, the event will be. So there will be a clear thirty to forty feet away from the street side to where the persons will be gathered in from of the stage. But at any rate, the whole idea of putting it out there that people need to be scared to attend this function could be some deliberate effort on the part of some individual to sabotage the organisers of this function.”

Gerald Westby, Commissioner of Police
“We’ll have control of the M.C.C. Grounds and we’ll make it as safe as possible. We are confident in the measures we are putting in, not only for the M.C.C. Grounds but for the entire Belize City over the weekend because we must not only police the event, but we must police the environment and so we will be policing the entire Belize City.”

Westby says there will also be heavy police presence at the Independence Day events.