The Caye Caulker Neighborhood Watch Committee held a protest on the island on Thursday, October 8, at 2:00 p.m. to express their concerns about their safety and that of the tourists they host, which has been amplified to the point that they feel it necessary to call for the replacement of all 12 police officers serving the island, including officer-in-charge Sergeant Dirk Dyer.
We are told that turnout was “good.”
According to witnesses of the march, some of the signs people made for the demonstration expressed the frustration of the islanders and offered solutions: “Stop the Crime, Stop the Violence, Do it for us, Do it for our children, NOW Before it is too Late!”; “How many deaths will it take till they know that too many people have died?”; “I want to feel safe in my own home!”; “Let’s Stop Crimes! You see a crime — Report it and be a witness. The community working with the police will make a safer Community!!! Let’s work Together!”; “There is a simple way to solve the crime problem. Obey the law, punish those who don’t!”
In the wake of the brutal murder of popular island resident Lorleen Young, 51 (see front page of Amandala #2368 for Sunday, October 4 and story on page 3 of Amandala #2369, published Wednesday, October 7), the over 2,000 residents of the island called the attention of the police and politicians to the perceived incompetence of the Police Department on Caye Caulker.
Typical is this story: two weekends ago, a certain Australian tourist who happens to be a police officer was visiting the island when he was accosted by a thug, allegedly from Corozal, trying to rob him. They got into a struggle, and the Australian prevailed, knocking his assailant out.
However, when he went to make a complaint to the police, he was told not to bother, and the thug, who had been detained, was released without charge.
According to president of the Caye Caulker branch of the Belize Tourism Industry Association (BTIA), Louis Aguilar, this is just the latest in a string of worrying incidents of crime on the island, directed against both tourists and locals, and another instance in which police protection and detection have been found sadly wanting.
When Amandala visited the island on Friday, October 2, to cover Young’s murder, we met Aguilar at a local inn 100 yards or so down from the Atlantic Bank. After gleaning his thoughts on Young’s sad death, we spoke about the overall crime situation on Caye Caulker.
Aguilar and BTIA secretary Maria Vega presented us with a list of complaints taken by the BTIA from tourists and locals, from May to July. The drive was part of a comprehensive review of the situation undertaken by the local BTIA, from which reports were submitted to the national Association. In the course of one month, July, Caye Caulker villagers and officers of the BTIA reported the following:
· Multiple robberies in broad daylight; with little investigation by the Department
· The alleged holding of individuals by police on suspected “immigration violations” and the pocketing of ransom money paid to them to get the detainees out
· Handling and disposing of stolen goods by certain officers, as in the case of thefts from a village hotel in which the police recovered 10 stolen I-pods and money, but only returned two of them to the victims of the thefts
· Multiple arson attempts, with poor organization by the local fire fighters and no follow-up police investigation
· killing of wildlife
· the alleged tipping off of suspects in crimes by police, who reportedly do not intervene when those suspects subsequently attack the complainant
· the refusal by police to take statements on certain incidents reported to them
· the refusal by police to enforce the law on suspicious activity at Palapa Beach Gardens and the taking of money from accused drug vendors there, and many others.
In addition to the above, the BTIA reports three incidents of rape, several assaults and other major incidents.
Most of these reports are not circulated nationally through the Press Office of the Police Department. (Indeed, Amandala, prior to Lorleen Young’s murder, cannot recall a single crime report emerging from Caye Caulker on any formal police report sent to us this year, unless it was drug trafficking or found property.)
In addition, one high-ranking officer is alleged to have ties to drug dealers on the island and others have reportedly been seen taking money from them and otherwise condoning their illegal activities.
Serious allegations indeed, and the Caye Caulker BTIA says it has written to both Prime Minister Hon. Dean Barrow and Commissioner of Police Crispin Jeffries to intervene. In both letters, of which we have copies, the BTIA reports that the U.S. Embassy in Belize is considering “red-flagging” Caye Caulker as a tourism destination, a sure blow to the finances of the island.
Apart from two raids by Special Branch officers in late July, nothing has been done from the police end.
We sought a response from Sgt. Dyer at the police station on October 2, immediately after speaking to Aguilar.
Sgt. Dyer has been on Caye Caulker for 19 months and has more than 12 years of police experience, most of it in Belize City.
According to the Sergeant, Caye Caulker’s problem is not the police, but its own villagers, who, he says, do not cooperate with the police in reporting incidents and fail to follow up investigations.
While Sgt. Dyer admits there is a problem with corruption – he says he has had to transfer 4 officers during his tenure for what he calls “inappropriate behaviour” – he told us that “the police can’t see everything”. “Unfortunately”, he said, “if a Caye Caulker resident sees something happen, because he does not say something to us, it is almost as if it didn’t happen.”
He added that it would be difficult to stop crime on Caye Caulker even if the slim 12-member force was beefed up by adding more officers.
According to Sgt. Dyer, the BTIA in particular has frozen him out of their community meetings on the issue, while Aguilar says the opposite. In fact, according to Aguilar the BTIA met with the community four times between May 7 and September 4, and after the last meeting he was briefly picked up and detained by police, but later released – without charge.
But Sgt. Dyer told us last Friday that they would be better off trying to cooperate with the police to help stop crime.
No senior officials have responded as of yet to the demonstrators’ demands.