Village cop armed with new wheels

And while most of the donations these days are heading north, this afternoon, the Belize Police Department also benefited from such a contribution. Today the Belize Police Department took possession of a motorcycle, worth just under four thousand dollars, courtesy of P.U.P. Standard Bearer in the Belize Rural North, Earl Perez. The bike has been slated for use by Corporal Aaron Zuniga, the officer in charge of the Belize River Valley. Zuniga, who is stationed in Bermudian Landing, told News Five that the new addition will substantially decrease his response time to incidents in the nine villages under his charge.

Cpl. Aaron Zuniga, O.C., Belize River Valley
“How I normally get around, I normally have to call Ladyville police station to assist me with mobile or I manage to hitchhike or somebody who know me within the village assisted me.”

Kendra Griffith
“And what was your response time then?”

Cpl. Aaron Zuniga
“Well I tek lee longer. I tek lee longer, maybe between half an hour or and hour.”

Earl Perez, P.U.P. Std. Bearer, Bz. Rural North
“Corporal Zuniga has been doing a very good job in Belize River Valley area for the short time that he’s been there. He always been having problems, getting around, responding to the calls, make an immediate response. So after I made an assessment of his position, I said well the only thing that we could do is get a trail bike for him so that we could make his job much easier.”

Cpl. Aaron Zuniga
“My response time will be within fifteen minutes. In other words from I get the call, fifteen minutes after that I will be where you are to deal with your report.”

In unrelated news involving a police motorcycle, this morning a twenty two year old man was charged with stealing such a vehicle from the cops. According to Special Constable Deulane Neal, he parked the motorcycle near the steps of the Belize City Centre and went upstairs to work at a Carnival event on Saturday night. However when he returned to the area later, the bike was gone. The Honda motorcycle was soon spotted on Albert Street with Collin Smith in the driver’s seat. Smith was immediately detained and has since been charged with theft. He pleaded not guilty and has been remanded to Hattieville until September twenty-sixth.