Crime Control Council looks at rogue cops and Crooks Report

Michael Young

There has been a spate of shootings over the past week and the cry of excessive force being used by officers has been tremendous.  O’Neil Anthony Jones was shot by an officer on February fourteenth while riding his bicycle near a bar in Lord’s Bank. And on Saturday March sixth, Elmore Neal was shot by an officer in the line of duty on Central American Boulevard while also fleeing on a bicycle according to eyewitnesses. Mathias Duran died on Sunday morning while in police custody in Orange Walk Town. But the allegations go even further to suggest that officers were allegedly involved in the shootings of Teddy Murillo Junior and Christopher Galvez.  The chairman of the Crimes Control Council, senior counsel, Michael Young, says that the Crooks Report recommendations will take time to implement.

Jose Sanchez

“A lot of the violent crimes we have been having lately, there are talks on the streets of alleged police involvement. Is this something the Crime Control Council will look into?”

Michael Young, Chairman, Crimes Control Council

“There are a lot of issues that relate to the Police Department including even the matter of police officers who not only do not live up to the standards that are required of the police but who themselves are a part of the problem and indeed some people might say that there is even some criminal behavior on the part of some police officers. The big picture certainly is that you have a whole lot of police officers, who are dedicated and who want to see this campaign against crime being very effective. But you always have of course the apples that tend, in the public perception, to spoil the whole lot. As I said before, the matter of the Police Department, many, many issues and that is being handled in a systematic way. You have mister Harold crooks from Jamaica, he happens to be a qualified attorney, as a matter of fact he went to school with me and he has extensive experience and history with the police. He came down, he did a detailed study. Apart from that you have the senior officers of the Police Department in Belize who made recommendations to the Crime Control Council.  Out of all this work, there have been recommendations which have been made to the ministry.”

Jose Sanchez

“The one hundred plus recommendations from Harold Crooks, is there a time frame for implementation of those recommendations?”

Michael Young

“Well, the audit and implementation team has been constituted fairly recently and in fact just within the last month or so. The matter of the timing is something that I believe that they need to establish. I’m sure that it’s going to be a matter of priority, it’s going to involve some costing so it’s something they have to plan.”