Workshop on gang violence in Belize
It’s among the most prevalent causes of deaths within the country of Belize and today, the Ministries of National Security and Education started a three-day workshop to curb gang violence and its causes. The workshop at the Bliss is being conducted by renowned gang violence expert, Dr. Herbert Gayle, and will focus on monitoring and evaluating youth programs including strategies to combat gang-related activities. Education Officer, Nelma Mortis, says the workshop will train enforcers to be better equipped and skilled.
Nelma Mortis, Education Officer, Belize District Education Center
“For us to understand the basic rudiments of gang violence, because we know that is something that we need to address. I think, for very long, we have been sitting in apathy and not addressing the problem as it should. Now this is not to say that running this workshop, we will have answers overnight, but we might be able to save another generation or so.”
Duane Moody
“What will they gain from it?”
Nelma Mortis
“We have principals, teachers, councillors that make up the ministry of education. We have the CROs from the community rehab department, we have police officers who are from community policing and I think even more than that.”
Herbert Gayle, Gang Violence Expert
“We have to begin to continue community policing because not until we have, we being to see community policing as the mainframe of policing. Our people go in to trust the police to speak to them. You can’t invade a community every two weeks and then come to these guys and say to them in a day, we’ve changed, we want you to talk to us. It won’t work, people know the principle; a snitch then gets boom-bye-bye. The issue is that we have to have community policing and we have to stop the nonsense of expecting results within five years, within a year, within two years—we need to see results now. Youth who get in there for gang, they’ll go in there for belonging, they’ll go in there for money and they’ll go in there as part of their masculinity. And so if we don’t give them alternatives, if we don’t invest in education largely, and give these kids a sense of dignity, separate from gangs, then the gangs are going to be fuel. As I said to people, there are three angles to a violent situation. You have the perpetrator, the victim and the witness. The witness is society allows these things to happen by not supporting these boys.”
Gayle says that negative labeling and cultural violence can lead at-risk youths to pursue gang violence. The workshop ends on Wednesday.
