ComPol Williams: “Policing Martin’s is Extremely Challenging”

Chester Williams

Since the rash of gang-related shootings began on November twenty-third, the Belize Police Department has staged several interventions with feuding groups in the Lake Independence area.  Despite their efforts to quell the violence in that community, another shooting was reported on Sunday that is believed to be an internal row within one gang.  According to Commissioner of Police Chester Williams, policing Lake-I is increasingly challenging because of the intricacies of gangs in that neighborhood.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“Yes, the St. Martin’s area is extremely challenging, I must say, and it has a lot to do with the clusters of gangs that reside in that area and the close proximity within which they reside.  Myself, Mrs. Westby from CYDP and Brother Nuri are active on the ground in that area trying to see how we can quell the issues between the different factions and while yes, we have the shooting or Mr. Cole, the good thing about that is that it was internal within the PIV gang and not an issue where Backaland and PIV were going at each other.  So the fact that it is internal, it is more easier to contain as opposed to them going at each other.  We are supposed to have another session this evening at four with the different factions, again, all with a view to see how we can keep the peace going much longer and to forge a more permanent solution moving forward.  And so there’s a lot of work that needs to be done, we have also solicited the assistance of Minister Cordel Hyde and he is onboard with us, working in the background to see what he can do from a political standpoint, looking at the economic issues that affect the people in St. Martin’s area and then he is going to see how he can assist us with that.  So we believe that with the different groups that we have working with us, we’ll be able to find a good solution to the problem and notwithstanding that, we, as police, we have to remain vigilant on the ground.  We cannot put our guard down because we know that flare-ups are always possible within the Martin’s area.”