ComPol Says Police Resources are Scarce in Toledo

Allen Whylie

On Monday Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie also spoke about Police presence in Punta Gorda. There have been two murders recently and while Police have arraigned two persons for the first in San Benito Poite, it has highlighted the remote location of the communities and the effect that has on Police response. First, though, the media asked ComPol Whylie for a comment on the acquittal of the Santa Cruz thirteen on Monday.

Allen Whylie, Commissioner of Police

“I’ll limit my comment to say that my knowledge of what occurred is what I heard on the media and I limit my knowledge to that.”

Reporter

“So if it were up to the police, you would continue with the case?”

Allen Whylie

“I won’t second guess the decision made. As I said, I became aware of it on the media.”

Reporter

“Sir, in that same regard, did that community have police representation? Is there a police station or police persons at that village? And also there was a murder in San Benito Poite over a week ago. I traveled to the village and there is no police officer at the village. Would you be able to…what happens in those cases, for example in the San Benito Poite case, the murder occurred around nine-thirty, but it wasn’t until about two-thirty a.m. the following morning?”

Allen Whylie

“Well the police did respond the night, but it is a remote area, difficult terrain. Across Belize because of the length and breadth of Belize, we have many remote villages and we have substations in some areas and where we have one substation perhaps could be responsible for as much as ten, twelve villages. There are areas where we don’t have substations and a lot of those areas, especially in the Toledo district, when the request for assistance comes, the response would normally come from the head station especially an incident where someone had been chopped and had died.”