Do you support a curfew for teenagers?
Close to six hundred and fifty persons polled on last Friday’s question on whether or not they felt that their personal safety is more at risk. As many as ninety percent who voted thought so. In tonight’s newscast we focus on children given the number of violent incidents affecting their well being. The question is: Do you support a curfew for teenagers? To take part in the poll visit our website or send your responses using your SMART phones to 8668. You can also send an email with your comments to questions@channel5belize.com.
Hell yes….. better yet a curfew for everyone…..this might slow down the killings and shootings at night.
I would have to agree with the curfew but we should instill it for the entire country.
Yes, i support that they should have a curfew for teenagers. They should also have some jurisdictions which introduced “daytime curfews” that would prevent high school-age youth from visiting public places during school hours or even during immediate after-school hours
very good idea…was thinking about this a month ago!
I am 100% in favor of a curfew. There should also be some sort of Truancy Law put in place, for any school age child; seen on the street during school hours. Let them do some form of community hours, which would help prevent not only truancy; but also crime. Parents MUST also be held accountable. Maybe a couple hours of community service, for parents too; would be a great life lesson.
What about the local School Boards. Part of your job is also the education and safety concerns of “Our Children”, not just a position that entitles one to “bragging rights”.
Come on…..these are the very same “young adults” who will care for and protest us in the future.
yes I support this curfew, but only for teenager, how about all the man on bycycle riding around town with guns just to shoot anybody they feel like shooting, we need more police patrol around town too, and BDF, AS LONG AS THEY NO FALL ASLEEP.
Well of coures people , its about time , I think that the country should be set up on curfew, this will help a lot , not only in belize but in all the district cause when people know they cant to something in one place they go to antoher so i think they should consider the entire country!
ITS ABOUT TIME BELIAE, THATS WHY THE POLICE AND BDF HAS A LOT OF MEN AND WOMEN WORKING , NOW THEY WILL GET PAY TO DO A JOB! NO OFFENSE BUT THEY WONT BE BEHIND A DESK OR CRUSING INSIDE THE VECHILE WASTING GAS .(NO OFFENSE AGAIN) BUT THATS WHAT IS HAPENING , WE NEED TO FEEL SECURE IN OUR COUNTRY ,
I REMEMBER AT ONE WE COULD SLEEP WITH D WINDOWS AND DOORS OPEN NOW U HAVE MAKE SURE U PUT A SLOID PROOF LOCK! REALY. PEOPLE NEEDS TO BE DISCIPLINE AND ENFORCE AND RESPECT THE LAW!
gO BELIZE LETS START !
In San Pedro they Mayor tried to implement it but with no support from the community it just faded away. Its easy to say “implement a curfew”…but who will implement it… will it be the police…(don’t they have thier hands full) so who will patroll the streets? What do you do when you detain the teens? Do you lock them up? Do you let them sleep the night in a holding cell? Sometimes you cannot even find the parents? Implementing a curfew is far more complicated than it sounds…it can be done but only with the help of the community, that means you and me but…jeje… everyone just says do it..and they expect someone else to do the work….think about that…
Declare a state of emergency and martial law – Curfews for everyone throughout the country, and arrest all known troublemakers.
During the day, stop & search powers should be in force, especially for those riding bikes and driving in vehicles with heavily tinted windows (How many Toyota Camry or similar cars have been involved in killings).
Sweeping searches of housing areas known to be trouble spots or host gangs etc. BDF set up a perimeter, and the Police search ouse to house, any running from the area get arrested and questioned over why they were running? Any weapons found in a home, the whole family get arrested until the culprit owns up to hiding it!
I’d give it 2 weeks before both the criminials get the message and behave, or the community have enough and turn on them.
At the same time, corruption should be fought aggresively and no-one should be safe from arrest for that. No point in only fighting crime at the bottom of the food chain!
I suggest this a long time ago…and I put it again some of my recommendations
we need short, medium and long term measures to tackle the crime in Belize….Many will disagree but we need alternatives and not only criticize:
Short-Term:
1.) Marshall Law, Curfew: people cannot be on the streets after 9:00pm
2.) Random searches for suspected individuals
3.) Shoot to Kill when a criminal caught on the act is shooting back to security forces
Medium-term:
1.) More BDF and officers on the streets patrolling
2.) Belize need undercover Security Officers on Strategic Location
Long-term:
1.) Reinstate “Capital Punishment”
2.) Have social programs to prevent teenagers in getting involved in gangs activities
3.) When convicted, the prisoner should be forced to work to win his/her food
WHAT OTHER ALTERNATIVES WOULD YOU SUGGEST???
I fully support a curfew for teenagers; as of late many of the crimes committed are done by teenagers. Lets put it in place and see the difference in the crime rate, then we can vote again to keep it in place. We need to get back our country and we need to do it now. We as adults can help by calling the police when we see young people on the streets after 8:00 p.m. Repeated offenders should be placed in boot camp or sentenced to at least 100 hours of community service. There service could be to keep the city clean and we sure do need some assistance with that. This sure will keep them off the streets I would hope.
dave t and GG…Minister Heredia suggested what you guys are saying when he said that people arriving on boats to the island should be questions. What support did he get? He was eaten up by the press and most belizeans. Everyone has the right to go where they want. If we impose martial law we are killing the little tourism that we have. Think of the big picture before you give narrow minded opinons….Tourism is one of belize’s biggest money maker martial law would kill tourism.. but GG i would suggest that we change our laws cause the police catch them but the law says they can come out in 3 months.. we need to revise of laws to have bigger penalites but this is a process that takes time unfortunately…
Legally teenagers should be considered minors up to about eighteen years at which time they turn into young adults but school age teenagers should have a curfew implemented by their parents where it should be demanded that they be indoors by 9:00 pm. In the absence of that enforcement by the parents then I must support a stiff police instituted curfew where the breach of an implemented curfew will result in the detention of that child until the following morning. In past apparent curfews police spend more time tracking the parents or guardian of a picked up and that defeats the purpose and bags down the officers in their endeavor to cover a wider area of the city or area.
I agree that the implementation of a curfew system sounds appealing but it does include many other factors that also need consideration. First of all there needs to be a plan for such a big project. Objectives that we want to achieve through this project need to be properly determined. Who will execute or implement it? What will be the consequences if caught on the streets at curfew hours? How will this affect the image of Belize on the global market especially tourism? What statistics are there that show a trend of downfall of violence and crime because of the implementation of a curfew system in a country? These and more are some of the questions that we need to consider. I consider that the problem lies right in front of our eyes.. right at home. Parents be parents not friends to your children. Teach them to be responsible and self-conscious of their actions. Where did good values go? To hell most would say… find a way to bring it back. We need to be held accountable for our children. Negating the problem won’t make it go away. You hear several parents on the news night after night after their son or daughter was caught by police after shooting, robbing etc., saying that his son/daughter would never do something like that and playing victims. Come on people, be responsible for what you have created. May God bless Belize and its people so that we can find better solutions to our problems as a society.
I would support a curfew for the incompitent parents so they can attend a parenting class.
How many times am i going to say it.Charity begins at home.These kids parents should be held for their actions.Are young girls in Belize being used bt their parents?Thiis is such a shame,one time in Belize our parents useto be protective of our sisters.These are just signs that we are living in the last days.
i think that curfew should be placed for everyone cause now-a-days all sort of people are commiting crimes. U simple can’t trust anyone……also with this thing about only “smart customers” voting..i think it is being unfair/bias because questions concerning our country or our well being as individuals affects all of us in Belize, whether “smart or btl” customers or even “PUP or UDP”……thank u
Isn’t it funny how people are willing to put their freedoms away in the hands of their Government. Ask the tutsie’s in Rwanda about that and you’ll see what answer you will get.
Marshal law is the dumbest idea ever. Look at the mess that cops did in Louisiana after hurricane Katrina…
They are still investigating the murder of some people by a bridge by cops. One of the cops who helped cover up is speaking now…
In response to that viewer tell him or her to get out there and bloody do 100 hours of community service, what the hell does community service have to do with a youth standing on the street. Let me tell you this sounds all good from just talking but let me tell you this, this will backfire big time! Do you really think that the police will be able to monitor most Belizeans? MAN PLEASE! We have tried this with the children before and it did not work how will it be possible to keep ‘Youths’ off the street. Teenage years are one of rebellion, this is the time they try and see how many buttons can be pushed. I must say 8.00 p.m is highly unreasonable, what the if they are coming from some event and are walking home should they be stopped and picked up and locked up over-night. Must the parents tot behind them every single time? I see what people are trying to say in that they are trying protect the non-delinquent from victimization and reduce juvenile crimes as it is seen that those crime perpetrators often take other youths as their victims. However, let us be realistic here, the amount of crime will decrease yes but it will only be during the curfew hours. Can’t you see that more and more criminals are getting more bold. Look at the robbery that channel 5 had caught on cam, it happened in broad daylight when so many people were out there. Do you really believe that people will be scared??? All that this curfew will do is displace the time periods when the curfew ordinance is in effect.
Secondly, I must say this an infringement on the constitutional rights of children and parents. Let me remind you in “The Constitution under the protection of fundamental rights and freedom” states that we have a right to free speech, association and movement. Curfews give law enforcement excessive power to detain children without probable cause and subject them to police questioning in violation of the constitution against unreasonable search and seizure. I would also like to add that that this curfew initiative being proposed can also be a detriment to minority youths. Overall curfews are vague and overreaching and also they violate our fundamental rights! Let us think not only of the Pros but lets us think of the Cons as well. Only when both are looked at can we truly solve our problems.
Sincerely, 20 year old Belizean chick!
Sorry about my grammar, I was speed typing!
I am sure that curfew was brought up to the board of ministers as an option to minimize the crimes in Belize many times before, and the idea was just swept under the rug. When one of the ministers/family becomes victim of the senseless crimes on the streets something will be put immediately into action. At the moment only the poor and lazy people are victims to these crimes so it is being ignored.
Someone should kidnap “Musa” hold him hostage and demand that Barrow make an immediate change. But knowing barrow history he is a “guy who could never commit” because “the idea of change is “just so permanent.” Therefore, Musa would be shit-out of luck. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t look that bad, but it doesn’t look that good either.
Perhaps you are not aware that the killings are now happening in broad daylight and not only at night. (How can curfew help the day crimes)? They cannot keep people inside their homes in the day time as well too.
The BDF has to help out the police to do their jobs, still people continue to get killed and robbed, and it is not enough.
“Capital Punishment” could be the answer, but we all know it is in-humane and innocent people will die too. There is just no real justice in Belize judicial system, and that is your actual problem.
To stop the crimes in Belize an armed police man would have to be placed at every street corner, every alley way, 24/7and we know that is not going too happened any time soon.
Conflict theorist be informed I am a woman and I am already doing community service I have two children that I send to school and they are not mine, one is not even related to me. I am doing this in order to ensure that they stay off the streets. We are here suffering from the crimes and you are getting angry at ideas to solve the crime; hence the reason why crime is on the rise we sit around finding fault and cannot come up with solutions. Whenever you find a fault ensure that you have recommendations that will assist in solving the problems. We need to start working together to get our country back. We the people of Belize have become prisoners in our homes because of the crimes. We need to start working together to solve it not promote it. I believe that a curfew will assist in helping us not to create more young criminals and will also help parents in ensuring that they know where their children are at any given time. We should always be our brother’s keeper.
Janet I am not angry and as I said before and shall repeat again a curfew are vague and overreaching. A curfew will not help can’t you see! It seems that you do not understand me very well. A curfew will only decrease the number of crimes during the alotted time that has been set. Where are you living? Criminals are bolder! They not commit crimes in the night as it has been caught on t.v and reported many times of broad day robberies and murders. I am not an ignorant woman and I have made recommendations before right here on this channel 5 epoll. I will suggest again some of them to you…1. Remove the Minister of Security- this man lacks an education in his field, he gives us bull crap reports and expect us to believe that, he wants to tap phones which we all know will not work because it will turn into corruption they will tap into their opponents private information. His solutions are nothing but talk and knowing Belize these things will not work and I assure you that this curfew will backfire mark my words. 2. We do not have well trained officers and the ones who are trained, some of them are the worms within the system. There is a need for reform within the Ministr and its department. 3. I have seen at work a channel called A&E, it has a show called 48 hours hard evidence, it shows real life crimes being solved ad ma’am i have seen those very cases happen here, it’s a copy-cat idea. Maybe the cops should watch that show too. Hence the reason we need a state of the art crime lab, that can find vidence and present it in court even though a witness may refuse to go to court we can still convict! When we can convict the damn criminals then we can reinstate capital punishment as we will truly know then that they were indeed the one’s responsible. Then the innocent one’s will be spared by not being punished for someone else. And one more thing raising some else’s child that is not yours is not community serVice honey it’s called RESPONSIBILITY!!!! You wanted the man so all his baggage is yours too!!!!
Why do you assume that I am raising a man’s child I am a single mother and raising three of my own 1 has graduated high school, one is about to graduate high school and the other a toddler. The child I am rasing is not a blood relative the other is a neice. Don’t jump to conclusions. And I stick to my point we need a curfew and we do not need to the police officers to implement it; have you heard about special constables or neighbour watch maybe you can join a group and assist. The police cannot do everything we need to start chipping in. I guess we watch the same shows but with the money needed to finance a state of the art lab like you are suggesting then what do we do in the meantime while we wait. Let’s try and do something that will assist us in the meantime. AND I DO LIVE IN BELIZE MY WHOLE 40 years.