San Pedro to institute curfew

While San Pedro has earned a reputation as a happy go lucky tourist destination where fun is the order of the day, it is also a community that must cope with all the normal problems of urban life. On September first the town will inaugurate a curfew for young people and area representative Patty Arceo explains why.

Patty Arceo, Area Representative Belize Rural South

“This exercise, we find it necessary because we are finding that teenage pregnancy has increased on the island, in addition to the abuse of drugs, especially alcohol in minors, it is increasing. We are seeing children at the age of ten, fifteen, sometimes eight years old on our streets, two, three o’clock in the morning. We had launched a campaign before, where we were asking parent to take care of their children, be more responsible. Because let’s face it, if anything happens to these children, the first thing that they want to blame is the authorities. But we as authorities can only do so much, so we are in reality asking the parents to take control of where their children are. So what we will start to do in communication with police department, with the special constables on the island and other community oriented organisations, especially the Justice of the Peace Association, to assist us in that once our exercise comes into effect, coming September first that they help us patrol the streets and ask the children to go home.”

Arceo says the patrols will be made on random nights and will be carried out by volunteers along with police. Children found violating the curfew will be advised to go home and offered transport to their door.