6 in every 10 murders occur in Belize District, one in every four in Port Loyola
Even as the Government of Belize claims that it is implementing a new strategy to stamp out the scourge of crime, major crimes such as murders, robberies, rapes, and carnal knowledge continue to grab the national spotlight, recording an increase in the number of cases for the first quarter of 2009 (January to March) from 739 to 910 cases.
That’s an increase of 23%, or 171 more cases than were reported over the same period last year. While the first quarter of 2008 recorded 29 murders, as opposed to 28 for the first quarter of 2009, and reports of rape and carnal knowledge cases dropped slightly, based on the official statistics, burglaries, robberies and thefts showed significant increases.
There were 45 more burglaries, 51 more robberies, and 78 more incidences of theft reported between January and March this year, compared with the same period last year.
The Police Department was happy to report that they had also landed 24.5% arrests – 343 compared with 259 in the previous quarter.
Even though the number of murders declined by one for the period in question, the numbers for the Belize District, and particularly Belize City, continue to be troubling: six in every ten murders happen in this part of the country, and 13 murders occurred in Belize City, 7 of them in Port Loyola – the only electoral division that showed an increase in the incidences of murder.
This contrasts sharply with the trend in Toledo, where no murder was reported since the year began. Meanwhile, Orange Walk and Cayo were the only two districts that registered an increase in the number of murder cases reported, Cayo increasing from two to five cases, and Orange Walk registering one more case than the same time last year.
The report of the Police Department says that, “Despite a rise in major crimes in general, the Police continued to address crime. The detection rate for murder during the period under review for 2008 stood at 51.7% comparing to 82.1% in 2009.”
The vice of drug trafficking is held as one of the underlying culprits that sustain a high crime rate, particularly in the City. Police claim that between January and March 2008, they seized 87.4 kilos of ganja (cannabis) and eradicated 9,384 mature marijuana plants, whereas seizures were down to 44.8 kilos and they eradicated a total of 19,792 marijuana plants for the first quarter of 2009.
Even though it is widely reported by US authorities that Belize continues to be a major transshipment point for trafficking of cocaine, seizures amounted to a miniscule 36 grams of cocaine in the first quarter of 2008 and a mere 25 kilos of cocaine in the first part of 2009. Police report that 472 people (103 more than the previous period) were arrested for drug-related offences, most of them, evidently, marijuana-related offenses.
Illegal firearm seizures were down from 47 to 44, while arrests were up 50%, registering 95 for the first quarter of 2009.
For the whole of 2008, the Police Department reported 103 murders, 38 rape cases, 532 robberies, 1,303 burglaries, 1,413 cases of theft, and 98 cases of carnal knowledge.
Already for the first quarter, police are reporting 28 murders, 9 rapes, 154 robberies, 331 burglaries, 371 thefts, and 12 carnal knowledge cases.
In January, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Crispin Jeffries, told Amandala that his department is targeting a 10% reduction in violent and street crimes each year for the next three years.
Minister of Home Affairs, Carlos Perdomo, had presented a 9-part strategic paper to the Prime Minister, detailing what he and his officers intend to do to crack down on crime.
Prime Minister Dean Barrow had told the media then that the program includes a revised patrol strategy with the addition of mobile police stations on Belize City’s Southside.
Another element of the police strategy announced by Mr. Barrow is the circulation of a list of the “10 most prolific and priority offenders” among the police, and tapping phone calls “to assist police with intelligence gathering.”
Other aspects of the plan are an Integrated Ballistics Information Systems, the introduction of more CTV cameras and what Jeffries described as “intelligence-led policing.”