Witnesses to cross Mexico’s border
doug singh
The failure of the police department to bring charges and the lack of convictions when they do, contribute to the loss of confidence in the system. The fear of witnesses to pass on relevant information is also a major concern. Hence the reason why, in addition to a homicide unit, the Ministry of Police now sees it fit to provide adequate protection for witnesses. It is known that potential witnesses have been gunned down and now Doug Singh says he has spoken to Mexico’s Ambassador to Belize Luis Manuel Lopez-Moreno about housing witnesses in Mexico.
Douglas Singh, Minister of Police
“There has been suspicion from the public that when they provide information to police, that information gets out there to the criminal elements. We are making every effort that we can to assure you that this practice is being stopped. This practice of you wanting to remain anonymous, we will respect because if you don’t want to give us any information, as a result of that, we are no better off.”
Jose Sanchez
“Alleged witnesses have received threats before they die. Is being reliant on the public the only major solution because I have seen kids who said, “they noh snitch;” I’ve seen great grandmothers who’ve said, “they no snitch” and the kids who are being brought up have the same viewpoint. It doesn’t seem that the public assistance is something that you are going to get in terms of getting convictions.”
Douglas Singh
“Well if that is the general opinion of the public, then the crime situation will continue and it will get worse. If we cannot get the evidence to investigate crimes and to build the investigations and the prosecution then I guess that the public will have to throw their hands up in the air and say that we can’t go any further. It is impossible to be able to do effective investigation without information. The police is not on the spot when the crime is committed. There are witnesses in some cases. The Commissioner indicated that over the last several years, the police has engaged limitedly in witness protection with some level of success and some level of failure. We have been talking about this for some time and we trying to put in place certain structures to allow this to work. I spoke with the Guatemalan Ambassador about two months ago about the possibility of us engaging in a cross border agreement where they will assist us in protecting witnesses and perhaps we can do the same for people who may have that same problem in Mexico, in Chetumal, wherever it might be—someplace close by. He’s promised to look into the matter, but once again these things don’t happen overnight and the situation in Belize now is desperate. We have decided to put in place a witness protection program. There is a telephone number that we have assigned to a specific officer. That telephone number is a mobile number which means that that officer will respond anytime that number is called and be able to meet with the witness, and discuss the situation and evaluate the level of risk and put the appropriate measure in place for the protection of the witness if it is necessary. That telephone number is 670-0026.
The witness protection hotline, 670-0026 is already operational. Singh also mentioned that in six weeks the department will have over one hundred new officers on the beat. The government has also committed to adding new vehicles to the police department’s fleet.
Just asking? shouldn’t the place where witness are sent be kept a secret?
Belizean does not know what confidentially means. They are eager to tell everyone about anybody’s whereabout especially if they are getting a little bit of money.
nice now we all know where the witnesses will be. might as well they stay in belize. mein all this is just funny. Sometimes the people with the most highest educaion make no sense. Find a new place for witnesses then announce where it will be. Wow its just like the media hide the peoples faces but place their names in bold letters on the screen. All this is really smart. Only in Belize mein. Only in Belize
i’m just wondering why it is taking so long for the belizean government to do something about all the crimes. maybe if they start hanging some of them at bridgefoot maybe you can get their attention. I heard the prime minister said we should be proud of belize. well maybe he should give us something to be proud of. Also I would like to say to the prime minister that asking for help does not mean you are less than. He need to give up the false pride and think about all the innocent children dieing. Those children are the future of that country not that but you have belizeans that are scared to come home because of everything they read and hear.
I want to agree with some of the comments about confidentiality and the WPP in Mexico. But what we have got to remember unlike Belize, Mexico have about one hundred and ten million (110,000,000) people with an area of >760,000 sq miles compared with Belize’s 8,867 square miles and only 330.000 people.
So we have got to be more positive that this will work. Otherwise what is the alternative?
Lavern: Well said.Totally agree with you.
Charlotte, These people (Government Officials) just exposed their intelligence by letting us know where witnesses suppose to be protected. I know that there is absolutely no equation between monetary value for this service and the life of our innocent beloved brothers and sisters.
Sadly, we have to ask ourselves who will be responsible for paying for this service. Not too long ago, our PM informed us that GOB was short of $60M dollars. My fellow Belizeans, I don’t trust GOB no farther than I can pee. I am completely disappointed by the disclosure of where the witnesses will be housed in the first place and I am more afraid that when these witnesses are sent to Mexico, that at the end of the day, they will not have to beg in Mexico to fend for themselves or ultimately have to return to Belize to face the same bulls–t. My parents once told me, “Go you may but come you must”. How long will these people have to hide in Mexico before they can come back home?. The thing of it is, our government need to ammend our constitution, stop housing and boarding these ruthless criminals, and hang the son of a bitc–s every single week until we exterminate all of the idiots. As it is, the blind is leading the blind within our govermental (circus), I’m sorry, structure and it’s quite obvious that they don’t know their a-s from their elbows as far as protecting our citizens. It’s back to their guessing games again with our tax dollars and our lives. GOB should be able to balance the budget and give us back the SAFE, LOVING, and beautiful Belize we once lived in by using the ‘PROCESS OF ILLIMINATION”. Why should we continue to endure Death, mental slavery and imprisonment from both GOB and these Jackas–s?. My great grandmother is more intelligent than these so called officials even though she barely made it through (Baby 1). I remember her telling us periodically, “noh mek you right hand know weh you left hand di do”. Please share this simple principle with Mr. Singh and the rest of these idiots for me and start to focus on the safety of our Belizean brothers and sisters?.
It is obvious we are not taking into consideration all the pros and cons sending witnesses to Mexico for protection. One question I would ask, “Who will be responsible for the safety of the witnesses while in Mexico? We all know of the corruption amongst Mexican officials and Mexico in general, money talks loud across the border. It would be more feasible to have a safe house at home (in Belize) with guards from the police department and the BDF. What are these people thinking? We are now hiding from the criminals at the highest level, buckle up all you incompetent fools in positions of government and law enforcement.
SJS
AND………………..The Street Gangs of Belize City are CONNECTED TO THE ZETAS!!!
Desparations, witnesses wiil be more vulnerable in Mexico. We should be mum as to where witnesses will be held.
This is an absolutely great idea that would have worked wonderfully, except for one little detail – U JUST TOLD THE CRIMINALS WHERE THE WITNESSES WILL B – Omg Belize, this is ridiculous, if it wasn’t such a serious matter it would b hilarious – common sense isn’t really a trait that the people leading our country seem to have…
Instead of sending the BRAVE witnesses to Mexico, why not send the COWARDS who do the crime to one of those far away Mexican villages. Let them be deprived of the comfort of their visits on Family Day, their home made meals, their purified water, smuggled weed sticks, drugs, etc! Let them struggle to defend themselves in a foreign language!
Witnesses can also be protected by introducing STRICT penalty for threatening or harming them, giving major crime witnesses, round the clock police protection, and holding those police officers accountable for the safety of their assigned witnesses. For me it’s more practical, and just.
this fool mention where they intend to hide the witnesses! Why even get another country involved in something like this much less it being mexico. If a mexican drug lord wants to testify against his rival, what? are we supposed to let him come here for protection? What idiot came up with this bright idea?