Where is the Plan to Fight Crime?

John Briceño has unfailingly linked the issue of crime to economic activity and opportunity or the lack thereof. But with the resurgence of major crimes, particularly in south side Belize City under new leadership, on Tuesday he asked police and government brass where it is that they wish to take Belize in tackling and solving the crime problem for good. Ambergris Caye saw the use of its first grenade this past weekend, though fortunately with no loss of life. Questioning whether the Government really cared about solving the problem, Briceño drew comparisons between the response about using intelligence by police in San Pedro Town and their response at the Tower Hill Bridge to the P.U.P. protest on September sixth.

John Briceño

John Briceño, P.U.P. Leader

“I don’t see any sense of direction from the Government as to how we are going to deal with this. One day they are hugging up the gang members and giving them salaries to stay home and to behave themselves, and the next minute they come with an iron hand, an iron fist. There is no real sense of direction, no real plan as to how we are going to address that.  I’m not here saying that it’s easy and it going to be done overnight, but with the intel for instance – look at San Pedro; for the past few months, we know that things are boiling up in San Pedro, and we have not seen any serious action being taken by the security forces. If they were as aggressive as they were with us at the toll bridge in San Pedro, you probably could have calmed down a lot of things – you know what is happening; and with the intel they have they know who is doing what but that’s not important to them. But if the P.U.P. are trying to stand up and do something – oh no, that is important, we have to go deal with them, and send police and send tear gas and go with batons and ‘whap up’ people out there, innocent people that are standing by. The Government simply doesn’t care – all they are concerned about is protecting their political fortunes.”