Quality of Life program will serve fines on motorists and cyclists
Raphael Martinez
The wave of crime throughout the country has resulted in an abundance of studies, plans, documents and well intended workshops to curb violence. But the latest initiative by the Ministry of Police and Public Safety is actually not geared towards the male participation in violence, but towards you, the driver and the cyclist. According to the Public Relations Officer for the ministry, under the Quality of Life campaign, those little offences that you willfully commit every day, will soon be accompanied with a fine.
Raphael Martinez, P.R. Officer, Ministry of Police and Public Safety
“The police are now embarking on a quality of life campaign and basically what this is saying is that some of the things that we have actually grown accustomed to, some of the offenses that we have actually taken for granted and we look at it as something natural—for example; the bicycle offenses, running the stoplights, noise pollution, loitering, gambling, using obscene languages. These are some of the things that we look at that affects the quality of life. So then as I’ve mentioned previously, just the reiterate, the police have found it necessary that they should be doing something about it; starting from the small things and then of course gradually move up to some of the larger things.”
Jose Sanchez
“I know you said forget, but if you travel across the western and northern borders, memory comes back that we are not suppose to run lights.”
Raphael Martinez
“Exactly, these are some of the small things that we are talking about. At this first instance we are looking at the motor vehicle and the bicycle offenses. You know the motor vehicle thing has always been an ongoing operation by the police department, but what we want to do at this time, apart from the motor vehicle operations that we are conducting, we are looking at the bicycle offenses. For this first two weeks, what we want to do is to ensure that people know that come March, people will be fined, people will be asked to respond to these charges whenever they breach these offences. If you could just go back to your laws of Belize, it’s chapter 230 and it tells you completely everything that you need to know about bicycle offences. It is wrong, for example, for bicycles to be going up one way streets, it is wrong for you to actually carry someone on your bicycle. As a matter of fact, the law states that both persons will be charged—the person who is actually carrying the person and of course the one who is being carried will also be charged.”
Martinez says that the police department is giving a two-week grace period to cyclists to ensure that bicycles are equipped with lights, bells and other relevant accoutrements.
GET REAL…………………….
You will FINE ME FOR RIDING UP STOP??????
GET REAL……………………..
You will fine me for effing obscene language.
WHERE IS FREEDOM OF SPEECH????
ISN’T VIOLENT CRIME KEEPING THE POLICE BUSY ENOUGH?????????????
I GUESS IT’S JUST TO RAISE MONEY FROM US………………………. THE little PEOPLE………..
SQUEEZING EVERY PENNY OUT OF US.
Good idea but i think you should make sure all bicycle is license .good move start from the bottom.Look like now they are using some common sense.aand make sure the law is inforce,
damm what a joke this is what the police will be doing now they cant solve murders so now they will be giving fines to people on bicycle wow what a joke this is what the police will spend their time with instead of rape murder stealing corruption on and on and on wow what a useless impotent gov. and pm this is why this country is in the drain well i can tell you mr barrow this is not what the public is looking for they are looking for you to solve the crime situation the murders the rapes the corruption the stealing these are the things they are looking for not for you to spend time giving people fines for bicycle offences wow mein what little minds.
Man Police……why uno no go try do uno proper job rather than go harass poor bicycle people…..do U really think that a bike with light and bell will stop the killings in Belize?? how more stupid will U get?? U will take a poor kid and his bike to the station and give them a hard time while murderers run free…..and even when U catch some of them, U cannot prosecute and they go free…..maybe the police minister can start some summer classes for the police and start by teaching them some reading and writing.
haha! excellent comment, Sugar. They are venturing into stuff that they are certain to secure a win. How about a program that opens opportunities to the youths so that they work and earn an honest living? Teach them to work.
The PUP city and central governments tried to do something similar in 2003 and were ridiculed mercilessly by the UDP and the media. http://archive.channel5belize.com/archives/14796
Now a UDP government will try to implement a program to deal with the general lawlessness in Belize City and no doubt will be mocked by the opposition, certain sectors of the media, and the public.
But take a look at what Mayor Rudy Giuliani did ini New York City, what was dubbed “broken windows policing”… to tackle major crimes he started by dealing with misdemeanors. As Mr. Guiliani told the press in 1998, “Obviously murder and graffiti are two vastly different crimes. But they are part of the same continuum, and a climate that tolerates one is more likely to tolerate the other.”
Homicide rates have fallen by 75% in New York since 1990. Of course there are other factors than just the “broken windows policing” that contributed to NYC’s impressive decline in crime rates. But I strongly believe there is a direct connection between anarchistic behavior and what appears on the police blotter daily.
I just hope this is not another nine day wonder.
This will make the Minister of Police look good after March, all these extra convictions and solved crimes! The drug runners and murderers must be laughing themselves silly now, as not only are they going to be ignored by the police, in favour of some kid on a bike taking a short cut, but even if he was caught, a ‘Nul Proseque’ will surely follow, and they’ll be back on the streets in no time!
Hattieville will be filled with the poor & working class people, who can’t afford a car, or pay the fines. Just in time for the next elections, less poor to buy votes from! (I’ll let you out of jail if you vote UDP)
That is right Earl Grey it is all about money, money, money we don’t know how to increase the revenue of the government except by raising taxes and charging fines for silly little things like these. some may even say we put the carriage ahead of the horse by taking care of the little things first before the big things like crime and creating jobs but you see crime belongs to us we allow it that way we can keep the population in check and afraid very afraid and like jobs if they have jobs they don’t need our hand outs, another way we control them make them dependent on us, it’s a method that we use to advance our wealth building legacy scheme and to quiet this silly population down. Remember, My Legacy B 4 My People.
Hahahahahahahaa, Wat a Minister. We are in the worst of situation at this time too much innocent people are dying in Belize now. Stopping this small offence will not stop the killing but people will get more angry. What are you trying to do? Is the economy so bad you will try raise some money by fineing peolpe on small offense. Stop the killing drug trafficking, the violences in the police department, killing of young girls. Find out who took those aircraft from the airport and many many more. Find something more progressive to have the people of belize do. And by the way if u neva know to much police officers ride with bikes without lites and bells and even vehicles. Come on teach these people to set the example first.
THIS IS STUPID, REDICULOUS
so much murders being sweep under the rug and they’ll try to tackle the lame petty crimes with bike when they suppose to handle the big cases but since they can’t, they seem to find a way to keep them busy with this stupidity. Jeez we really need a new batch of minister of police, compol and the rest of the little wannabe police officers, these ones seem to be proud of trying to implement such rediculous thing with this new money squinching tactic they come with. later they might ask us to buy insurance for bicycles. i won’t be surprise if they do with this goverment department that are a joke to the public.
Lets get real, the gov. has to start from somewhere guys, i despise this barrow administration, but i will give credit where it is due, even if the strategy has flaws. If people can’t afford the fine then don’t commit the goddamn offenses! We are acting like children in this country and gov. any gov. should treat us as such. A quick observation, go to chetumal and see how all the belizeans behave so nice and abide by all the rules etc, the minute they get back to their home country of belize they act like retarded phucking pricks, no pride, no self-respect no respect for country and contrymen.
I hope the police pay a visit to Brad’s by the Belcan Bridge to stop the loitering and gambling there!
I believe that what should be looked at more seriously , is the bringing in of those prostitutes to our country.(Orange Walk) They come here and just break up peoples home and family. Search the bars and get rid of those prostitutes. Also the gambling areas. Come to Orange Walk and you will find these places. Especially in the Trial Farm area.
Are you guys trying to add a little humor to the news. Is this for real? Bicycle laws? Really? Is this to pump some air in the police department chest since they may be able to enforce bicycle laws instead if gun laws. So that they may enforce petty gambling laws since they can’t stop drug trafficking. So they may enforce the law for swearing in public since theycan’t stop money laundering. I wonder if any of these case files will go missing as often as those for murder cases. I wonder if the witnesses to these acts will be intimidated and terrorized like the witnesses to murder cases. Again, “get real” and start dealing with the real issue. If the powers that be stop diverting the public coffers to their relatives and cronies and address the real issue of poverty in Belize, if they start giving opportunities to the common without any political strings attached then maybe they earn the right to call a program a “quality of life program”. This is nothing more than revenue collection. Enough of beating up on the poor man.
I welcome this initiative, our children and senior citizens need to be able to walk our streets without fear of being knocked down by a bicycle, sit in a park with hearing another group playing basketball and shouting obscene words and smoking weed openly. quality of life people, we are so overwhelmed with other things that we have forgotten what it is.
RUDY Guiliani……..WAS and IS AN ……….IDIOT…………. and did nothing special since CRIME DROPPED ALL OVER AMERICA NOT JUST NYC…..and continues to do so.
BLOOM BERG…………………….. IS A BIGGER IDIOT.
Its about time we start abiding by the laws. Do you realized how many businesses get rob every day by people who either rode up stop or were getting away from the scene of crime – up stop. I think we need to start some place and I applaud them for the effort. This is not about politics – its about the safety of our people. Haven’t you every been knocked down by a bicycle riding up stop or almost ran into by a car running the red light? Come on… the laws were placed for a reason. We are not a circus. We need to do things the right way. Lets start with this small step……
Go catch some real criminals, thieves & murderers and crooked politicians. Leave the bicyclists along for crying out loud!
This is why Belize is the laughing stock of the first world. This is why Belize is still considered 3rd world country. Start cleaning out the closet at the top and you will find that the trash and problems at the bottom will then be taken care of.
well if you can’t arrest the thieving politician arrest the the man playing jacks at the corner.
If you can’t stop the drug dealer arrest the loiterers.
If you can’t stop the rapist….fine the bicyclist.
If you can’t slay the dragon, mash up di ants pan di street! Tax payers are watch…look busy!
fool di talk but fool noh di listen ( – __ -)
Please all the Police Mobile lights and control the smoke coming out of them, otherwise GOB will be paying the biggest fines monthly.