Police Officer shot to chest and robbed inside Police Substation
Aside from the murders of Reynolds and Medina, there were several shooting incidents that occurred over the weekend and while the following incident was not fatal, it was still alarming. The victim was a uniformed cop, who was wounded inside the Belama Police substation that recently came under scrutiny because there was an increase in robberies in the area while the station was closed. It was reopened following a public outcry, but remained understaffed. And on Sunday morning, a lone cop on duty was shot. The police press officer says that twenty-three year old Police Constable Nigel White is in a stable condition at the hospital.
Sergeant Fitzroy Yearwood, Police Press Officer
“Around twelve-twenty a.m. on yesterday’s date, P.C. White who was posted at Belama Precinct was on duty alone when three men entered the station and fired a single shot at him that caught him in the chest. He was robbed of his police point thirty-eight revolver, Smith and Wesson Brand and these men left the station [and] made their escape.”
Jose Sanchez
“Now when you said he was working alone, were there other officers who were out on patrol attached to the station or was he thoroughly there by himself?”
Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood
Fitzroy Yearwood
“Well Jose to be honest with you, we have a bicycle patrol in that area, but the hours kinda varies and that time in particular, because we have the Caribbean Shores which is the main hub for that area, usually if you come into that station to make a report, we have a vehicle that would respond to your report that he would call in via radio; but to say that we had other officers that were out on patrol that were stationed or detailed to work there with him at that time, unfortunately, no.”
Jose Sanchez
“At this time is the motive personal or is it something personal?”
Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood
“Well obviously they went for the police firearm and they got it. So I’ll have to say it was robbery.”
Jose Sanchez
“Are you questioning specific people or detained anyone?”
Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood
“Well Jose, like I said, very unfortunate situation and like we treat all other reports; we will stop at nothing. We will question everybody that we believe have reasons to be or any suspect that we believe have anything to do with this unfortunate situation where a fellow member of the department was hurt.”
Jose Sanchez
“Now, how alarming is it being that the most dangerous job used to be being a security guard? You have a weapon, you might get killed, robbed shot for your weapon. Now it seems that the police are now being targeted.”
Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood
“Well I wouldn’t want to say police that police are being targeted, but Jose, since this incident; we met, we have revisited our patrols and posting and I can tell you that you will see major difference and major changes in the way you see our precincts operating. We really and truly have to put more into the security of our officers.”
Douglas Hyde
Douglas Hyde, Youth Program Coordinator, Community Policing Unit
“The shootings on a whole have a lot of us angered and disgusted—shooting of young persons committed by young persons also and of course, this one; the shooting of a police officer. As a community, I think we need to do more to try to address some of these issues. For me, I am very angry about it and I hope that other people also speak out against these types of shootings that are happening. It’s happening regularly and ridiculously and I think we need to address these things quickly. In fact, shooting at a police officer, we watch movies; we hear about the news in Mexico and Jamaica, but not here in Belize. These things should not be happening in our country. We should put a zero tolerance to these shootings, especially the shooting of a police officer.”
Jose Sanchez
“It’s not something that has been discussed much, but people see young people, teenagers, getting killed—in this case fifteen and nineteen year olds—but what we’re hearing a lot of is that the seasoned killers are now sending younger people out to commit these crimes. Is that what you’re finding out yourself?”
Douglas Hyde
“Well the reports and the statistics are showing that—that they are using younger guys to commit crimes. And the reasons are varied. Some of them are looking at the issues related that they are younger, so the justice system would look at them as a minor. But knowing that the laws have changed and adopted, any person committing themselves will get dealt with equally as an adult, especially when it comes to murder. But as a community we need to come out more and deal with these situations when it comes to these shootings.”
complete incompetence if not stupidity. How can 1 23 year old boy man a station by himself. How is he supposes to pursue criminals if all he jhas are gis legs and a gun. Even i know that there shud be 1 vehicle at each substation with 2 officers at the desk and 3 more to do the patrolling in the vehicle and respond to crime in thatspecific area.
It is only by the grace of God that this is not being reported as another murder. Were there surveillance cameras? Were the surveillance cameras set up so that they could be monitored from a remote location & are there descriptions of the suspects?
impotenet gov. and pm and minister of police and minister of defence get rid of all of them before it is you laying in the street bring back the hanging penalty hang them alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
Clearly, clearly unnu nuh gat no control so how can the people of Belize hope to have protection and/ or aid from the police?
LIBERALS will tell you that if you pass more gun laws crime will go down because criminals will all of a sudden abide gun laws… NONSENSE
.40 S&W is a prohibited caliber in Belize, no Police or Citizen is allowed to legally own this round. Surprise, Surprise criminals dont give a hoot about the law and do what criminals do best. They are running around with the bigger guns and we the law abiding have to defend ourselves with lowly 9mm and smaller.
This is one of the reasons why I firmly believe in police brutality. Its killed or be killed. These guys are taking their behavior to a new level. They are not scared of anyone or anything anymore. People get up here and rant and rave about police brutality, not looking at the fact that these street thugs are brazen,hard core murderers. What if that cop was you child ? Don’t wait until its a family member for you to agree ,that theses guys should protect themselves. They are someone elses kid the same way you are.I honesty believe that all police officer should be armed ( even if the weapon is illegal) and shoot to kill when feel threatened because this is total nonsense.These thugs have no respect for the law and no respect for life. Give them a dose of their own medicine.They need more crazy cops like cowboy to return to the force and show them whose the boss. They need a few vigilante cops that will make them disappear forever and rid the streets of the madness. Yeah, i’m thinking just like the thugs now but that’s how people are feeling these days after being fed up. May God forgive me for my inhumane thoughts and may He have mercy on our beautiful country.
As to the stopping power of .40 S&W it is pretty obvious cause the officer fell straight to the ground. We all are familiar with the stopping power of 9mm, you have to keep shooting multiple times for the target to be stopped. Belizeans need to be able to stop criminals with the same stopping power.
The chickens have come home to roost!!!! I guarantee you that this gunman will be found, arrested, charged and sent to jail by Tuesday evening’s newscast. If it was an ordinary civilian, it would just be another unsolved mystery and be swept under the rug after a couple days but the message is clear now. Lets see what the minister of police has to say now that the terror is getting closer and closer to their doors. LET THIS BE A WARNING M@#$%&F@#$%RS!!!
It is a crying shame, look at the Ministers Vehicles and they have these policemen on bicycles. the Police Station was never fully reopened, despite the Minister’s assurance that the zinc for the roof has already been ordered it is still not yet fixed. It is a shame. this policeman was placed in a cell practically, no where to exit if you are ambushed. very poor lighting for a police substation, grass overgrown. In short very representative of this government, neglect and decay, it is a shame, we definitely deserve better.
let barrow give a big reward for information leading to a conviction, from all that money he and his royal family are stealing from belize
The Govt has to dedicate more resources to the police departments. They try to save money by cutting man hours and leaving one man on duty. This is what happens. THe same thing happened in the US in New Jersey. They cut the police force in half in one city and the crime rate shot up. If you have too many cops working and there is no crime, that is ok! They must dedicate that money to the protection of the people. Once they cut spending in Police depts and close Substations the crime rate will shoot back up. There must be constant patrols and more than enough Police on duty. The money is there. The quality of life will be increased and productivity will follow. Last I heard BDF are not paid by assignment. They are soldiers. Use them! That is why they are soldiers. This is the Belize War.
no matter how many resourses you have they cannot do anything when you have an impotent gov. and pm there is no kind of leadership in the country all we have are ministers and pm who cant even talk properly much less anything else worse gov. in the history of belice we will probably have over 500 murders this year since this pm keeps taking back all the gang members and criminals that the usa have nurtured and now they cant afford them any more so they send them back to belize and this pm and gov. judas barrow takes them back for a few pieces of silver which is only going in his pocket along with the rest of this gov. and his family check his bank account in miami getting very big.
I’m a firm beliver in educating and equipting our police officers! if anyone out there can rember the police dept. got tools for their traids as a donation. they got Bulletproof vest handcuf etc. but that old colonializm way of tinking still runs in that department because i’m sure that most of those equiptment r some where in storage! THE DAM COMPOL. need’s to issue these equiptments and start to protect the officers that are actually doing the job! Hell the 8-5 officers dont need a vest it’s the ones that are on the ground doing the job that needs it.
Fitzroy Yearwood is an incompetent, corrupted, half-dead piece of dog-S@#t and I despise him like the disease that he is. (Personal Opinion!!)
The criminals are shooting at civilians, teenagers, police officers at sub stations. EVERYBODY IS A TARGET! Bz are at hostage, no freedom. Why would anyone that can leave Bz choose to live their. It seems live crime is just getting worst….
Why is the police department in belize still using 38 revolvers, no where else are cop using these pea shooters, they need to upgrade to a 44 magnum so when they blast these jack@@@s they will stop them for good.
Corf…I agree with most of what you say but REMEMBER that could bring incidents where corrupt cops will “sieze” people in their way unjustly. For example, if im a cop and the law allows me to shoot to kill if I feel threatened and I have a personal agenda against you, I may eliminate you and say I felt threatened even if you did nothing wrong.
Good point and bad point Cayobwai, yes I do not know of any police departments using .38 specials as their primary weapon. The most common caliber at the moment for Police use is ironically the caliber with which the officer was shot .40S&W it has amazing stopping power, it is a one shot stopper as it is obvious with what happened to the cop. One shot and he dropped luckily it didn’t hit any vital organs.
44 magnums are useless when you have to train hundreds of men and women to use them, the caliber recoils very hard and is difficult to control under stress. So that is your bad point.
THE BELIZE POLICE DEPARTMENT SHOULD STANDARDIZE ONE CALIBER AND IN MY OPINION THAT SHOULD BE .40S&W with good quality jacketed hollow points.
Add to that the use of bullet resistant vests and our cops would be good to go. A good bullet resistant vest would have stopped that bullet .
The officer would have a big bruise, possibly some internal trauma but the bullet would be stopped giving the officer a chance to get our of the line of fire and possibly return fire.
@ Proud Belizean, my words are simply coming from frustration. On a normal day,im not so mean.I do understand what you are saying and if things don’t change soon, I’m telling you these officers will be killing innocent people out of fear and we should not blame them. Put yourself in their shoes. I can’t figure out people are still enlisting in the force because their lives have no value…absolutely none.
IF THE POLICE …….IS NOT SAFE………how can I be safe??????????????????
Religion has messed us all up! they say the death penalty is inhumane.I say….. go out and hunt these animals.Do not wait for them to to prey on the citizens. Why should a country with law abiding citizens live in fear because there is a government in place that cannot protect its’ people? Shame on all Belizeans for allowing this to continue. A couple hundred criminals if that many have the country living in fear. Population of a few hundred thousand are afraid of a couple hundred. What a disgrace.Belize is no longer a jewel. It is a dangerous place.The same people complaining about the government will vote for them again for just rum and food.Arm yourselves and rid the country of these beasts.Communities need to come together . If your neighbours kid is a criminal… deal with him.It is now …. them or us. Choose…….
OUESTION —– WHY DID A POLICE ON DUTY GOT AMBUSH — IT SAD BECAUSE WE WILL NEVER FIND OUT ———- ALL 1000 POLICE MEN SHOULD HAVE DONE TO ASSIST HIS BROTHER OFFICER WAS TO SECURE THE AREA FIND THIS HAPPY TRIGGER PERSON AND TEACH HIN A LESSON ———– IF THEY CANT HELP A BROTHER POLICE WHO CAN THEY HELP
Watch weh crime di happen, Police station ina BELAMA !. now yo know belize di become wah sick country, nothin good no di happen . everyday murda murda, killin killin..