PM promises new technology to combat crime

Dean Barrow

According to the police statistics, crime is going down. But the man on the street knows that violence and grenade attacks are on the rise.  Urban terrorism is the new description of the warfare between rivaling gang factions throughout the old capital.  Morale within the Police Department is low and the strategy to combat crime outlined by the prime minister begins with granting overdue promotions at top levels to open up spots for lower ranking officers.  The department will be buffered by one hundred new recruits who should be in the training academy by the end of March, while additional officers will be assigned to rotation duties in Belize City.  Unmarked vehicles will be allocated for strike teams or the anti gang unit. But the P.M. readily admits that combating crime has been the most challenging issue his administration has dealt with and it means investing in new technology.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“This, it is well known has been perhaps our most challenging area and the new dimension that is represented by the introduction of the throwing of grenades, a new dimension to the face of crime and violence especially in Belize City has been a frightening development. What I want to say to you and the people of this country is that the police have not been idle; the government has not been idle. There were the efforts at dialogue, there were the efforts of social intervention with the gangs engaged in this mindless nihilism, this crazy internecine warfare.  But at the same time police efforts at interdiction have increased measurably. Operation “Restore Hope” was launched and it has met with some limited success. Those efforts were crowned yesterday by our recovery of the first of the grenades that we know to be out there together of course with a number of high caliber weapons. I will provide the funds to enable the police to purchase two buses that will act as—if it’s not an oxymoron—stationary mobile patrols. These are buses that in terms of particular hotspots, can be parked with equipment and personnel onboard in an effort to help, if not seal off areas, monitor ongoings. But the buses are of course mobile and can move from one hotspot to the next. I am determined that we will give to the security forces either this integrated ballistic information system (IBIS) or the DNA Lab, whichever of course is cheaper—well, no question of any of them being cheap—whichever is  less expensive.  But I am making a personal commitment that we will go with one or the other within the next month or so.”

The P.M. also made mention of bad eggs within the Police Department. And just after he made this statement, News Five learnt that there are also rotten apples in the Belize Coast Guard.  Three Coast Guard officers, attached to the Engineering Department, are sitting in the police lock up tonight for Theft.  The officers, who will be charged in magistrate’s court on Wednesday, are accused of stealing over four thousand three hundred dollars worth of fuel from the Coast Guard.