State of Emergency on the Table? Police Weigh Options After Gang Murder

Is the Belize Police Department considering the possible implementation of a state of emergency following the murder of gang figure Brandon Baptist? The Commissioner of Police Chester Williams says the crime-fighting measures may be needed if their mediation efforts fail. Since Friday night, the department and the Leadership Intervention Unit (LIU) have been meeting with members from the rivalling factions to prevent retaliatory violence. This morning, Williams explained that the department is working to mediate the tensions but would be cracking down on the men if those efforts fail. 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police: “While yes, I will say to you that the possibility of SOE do exist, as we have always said that SOE must be used as a measure of last resort. And so we are utilizing our policing strategy right now and see how well and how long that is going to hold. And if it is that we are doing what we’re doing and we see that the problem persists then certainly we’ll have to go to another level. I am hoping that we don’t have to get there, that what we’re doing right now is going to hold. We try to remain in dialogue with the other gang members because we do understand that they may be sympathizers of the BLC out there who may want to retaliate on behalf of BLC. So we are making sure that we do not provide that avenue for other groups to get in, into the fray because then that is going to make it a huge problem for us. So far we are getting cooperation. I have said to the police officers on the grounds that whatever efforts we employ must be done in consideration of the work that LIU is doing because we don’t want to hamper the good work that LIU is doing at this time with the other groups. Certainly when it comes to PIV and BLC, LIU may have their way of dealing with them but our policing method will be such that we do not compromise what LIU is doing with the other groups.”

The last SOE was implemented in June last year and ran for three months