Belize District Police Commanders Show United Front, Ask Residents for Same

Dezerie Phillips

Between Friday evening and Sunday night, the city saw three people killed and three injured in separate shootings –  the Daly Street double murder and the Mahogany Street midnight homicide and then the south side shootings. Today we asked Police what was being done from an operations perspective to curb the spike in shootings and apparent gang and drug related incidents. Police say that they are working with the GSU and that we can expect some increase in patrols. But they say the community must be more involved.

ACP Dezerie Phillips, Officer Commanding ED North

“You will agree with me that a bullet has no name and a face. The reality is that criminals look for any opportunity and they capitalize on any opportunity they find. Wherever a target presents itself, they strike. So, we want to encourage the public to become more involved in our efforts. Because this cannot be just a matter or an issue for the police. Crime is everybody’s business and we continuously implore on the community to do your best and do some more along with us. It takes a collaborative effort for us to make any kind of strides in terms of preventing crime or decreasing criminal activities. Everybody has a role to play and we call on the community to do a little more than they are doing as well.”

Chester Williams

ACP Chester Williams, Regional Commander, Eastern Division South

“We have stepped up our patrols particularly in the affected areas. The residents of the extensions, as well as those in the North Creek and South Creek areas will see increased police operations in those areas. And those operations are geared at curbing the current situation. We know that the problem existed before and we have dealt with it before and it manifests itself again. We are in the area currently and where both shootings are concerned we have good leads and we expect to make arrests in both of them hopefully today or by tomorrow the latest. We are hoping that with that, we will see some calm in the area. Notwithstanding that though, we will ensure to maintain our presence. We will be looking at how we can restructure our patrols in the extensions area with a view to ensure that the police visibility is always seen by those persons in those particular areas.  We will look at the need of mediation when the need arises. Yes, it is always good to do mediation. Some might think that it is counterproductive but it does help. And we cannot rule out that. Once we have identified all the different players involved, one surely will be done. The murder in the St Martin’s area definitely need mediation and so we are looking at the different parties that we need to bring to the table to dialogue with so that we can bring that matter in the St Martin’s area to an end. So, yes, there will be mediation.”