Number crunching: crime down, but murder up?

Last week Friday, the P.M. introduced a slew of controversial; some would say draconian, anti-crime legislation in the House of Representatives to address the deepening crisis in law enforcement. This week, the Police Ministry reacted with a release claiming that crime had actually dropped by seven percent this year compared to the same period last year. The question is: if crime is indeed down, why did the P.M. just introduce such sweeping anti-crime initiatives including constitutional amendments to expand preventive detention? Still yet, 2010 was a record breaking year with one hundred and twenty-nine murders, but so far 2011 has been even worse. According to statistics released by the Ministry of Police as well those on our own database, there were already forty-two murders on record at the end of April; that’s six more than last year’s thirty-six for the same period. The number of burglaries and rapes also increased when compared to last year. But the ministry’s statistics still say that overall, crime is down by seven point four percent. How is that possible?  The police seem to suggest it’s so because there have been fewer robberies, thefts and carnal knowledge cases. But while petty crimes have reduced, the numbers are no comfort to residents because murders continue unabated, particularly in the old capital. According to Assistant Superintendent Marco Vidal of the Gang Suppression Unit, the majority of the killings in Belize City have been gang related. Vidal also says the G.S.U.’s objective is to dismantle the gangs, but it’s going to take time.

Marco Vidal

ASP Marco Vidal, Head of Gang Suppression Unit

“For Belize City there are thirty-three murders and out of that twenty-five are in fact gang related. When we look at the statistics for last year, there were about twenty-seven murders up until present and twenty-three of those were actually gang related. So in effect we are only seeing two more gang related murders in Belize City, which to us is a show that the Gang Suppression Unit as well as other units in Belize City are in fact containing the gang violence in Belize City. It could have been worse than this.

Some of the main gangs are in fact well structured; some of them are operating a bit ad hoc. But in the general scheme of things most of these gangs are in fact structured and I think that because of that level of structure, it is a concern. But it is not only that that is of concern, but it is the different phases that they have moved on to, the evolution of the gangs. We have to remember that these gangs were not formed yesterday; these gangs have been formed for decades and it is only now that there is a direct focus on the gang problem. So there is a lot of work to be done and there are a number of things that we have look at in order to eventually dismantle this gang structure. But like I said we are working on these things.”

Vidal says there are thirty gangs operating in Belize, but only six are the main troublemakers.