Man sets up fake police checkpoint in Belize City

Over the weekend, a man was detained for operating an illegal checkpoint in Belize City. The culprit was stopped after motorists traversing the area complained that they were being harassed by a man claiming to be a member of the security forces. Reporter Vejea Alvarez tells us more.

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: On Saturday night, if you were driving on New Road in Belize City you may have encountered this man, dressed in camouflage, operating a vehicular checkpoint. For almost an hour, the man stopped motorists, and gathered their particulars, as any normal officer stationed at a checkpoint would. Except, he was neither a police officer nor a BDF soldier. He was an ordinary civilian who took it upon himself to cordon off the road by setting up a cone barricade. He says that after arguing with his girlfriend, he needed to leave the area and decided to block off the road to hitch a ride.

Fake Cop: “I want to reach to the next side of town because me and my woman are quarreling and I want a vehicle to drop me over so.”

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: But, instead of getting a lift to his destination, the counterfeit cop was detained by the real police. However, he was only given a slap on the wrist and a stern talk because, according to the Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, the culprit was simply intoxicated and playing a trick on his friend. Despite stopping several motorist that night.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police: “Well the police went there they met him and he was detained. He said he was not doing any checkpoint but he was hailing a friend, well I have a different view. Nonetheless the police are still dealing with that matter.”

While the police never caught him in the act the fake cop said he managed to stop a few drivers that night. 

Fake Cop: “I stopped a lot of them but everybody is going and nobody wants to go.”

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: One of the many bewildered motorist that were stopped by the phony police was Jahiem Anderson. He says that while the incident caused little to no harm he hopes the police can avoid further instances like this because things could have escalated.

Jahiem Anderson, Motorist: “Basically I was coming down the road because it’s a little shortcut I usually take but I saw a nice little line there and I had just drank some lime juice and I had a bad belly so I had to use the bathroom so I was trying to rush but I saw a line and I st arted cutting on the side but I thought it was a police checkpoint but when I got there it was a regular person there so I tried to go on the side. Maybe the man could have met someone ignorant and they end up coming out of the car and start something with him because they would think that he was just trying to obstruct traffic or something.” 

Vejea Alvarez, Love News.