Police Minister Invites Written Communication with Opposition on Crime Problem
John Briceño
On the adjournment of the House of Representatives on Friday, Leader of the Opposition John Briceño gave a general address on the issue of crime, zeroing in on the murder of Fareed Ahmad on December twenty-eighth, for which a woman police constable, Michelle Brown, has been charged. While Briceño was not able to bend the minds of the Police hierarchy to expanding the criminal and internal investigations, he emphasized the importance of restoring the police’s reputation after the fearful battering it has taken from allegations of brutality, corruption and general mismanagement. In response, the Minister of State for Police, Elodio Aragon, invited him to put his concerns in writing.
Elodio Aragon Jr.
John Briceño, Leader of the Opposition
“This is not the first time that police, or police officers, have been accused of being behind the murder of citizens in this country. And if police are leading the charge in having law and order in this country, and yet its citizens, we are questioning the actions that the police department are taking, then this can lead to further violence in our community. When we have police officers believing that they can beat our young people into submission; that the only way they can get the citizens of this country to behave is by terrorizing them, by making them afraid of the police, this is certainly not working. Because we are seeing the numbers – more and more of our people are being murdered, and now the police are felt as if they are out of control. So we need to be able to handle that and do something about it. We need to see how we can start to work more on community policing – we’ve been calling out this from 2009, I have mentioned it in this honorable House. But community policing does not mean that you are just going to have the police officers walking the streets in Belize City or in Orange Walk Town or anywhere. It’s not just walking because the police officers can walk up and down the streets all day and night, and it’s impossible for them to keep that up, to be everywhere all the time to avoid anything from happening. The police officers need to be able to win back the confidence and the trust of the very same citizens that they have been entrusted to protect.”
Elodio Aragon Jr., Area Rep., Orange Walk East
“[Mr.] Leader of the Opposition, if your side is seriously interested in trying to assist us, then put it in writing, because we need to see and hear from your side. This is the third time you’ve been asking – put it in writing and let us look at it. Nobody has any secret ingredient to solve the crime problem; if that was the case, we wouldn’t be here discussing crime.”
