MINISTER OF POLICE AND PUBLIC SAFETY DOUGLAS SINGH TALKS ABOUT CRIME

July 28, 2010

Operation Jaguar and Restore Belize are initiatives that were brought on stream by the government to curb crime. While there has been some level of success there is still so much left to be desired. This morning the Minister of the Police and Public Safety Douglas Singh spoke to Love News.

Douglas Singh; Minister of the Police and Public Safety

“There is a certain element of the operations that a police officer does that can influence crime on the street. But there are certain types of crimes that that level of vigilance is not going to affect and murder unfortunately and things like rape, which are serious crimes, are not those types of crimes. But active vigilant police work will help in convicting, in arresting these individuals. While you may not be able to stop the crime certainly you can go a long way in the context of prosecuting, convicting etcetera. That is where police work could be most effective.”

There is a domino effect when it comes to prosecution of criminals and the public perception of the police department and according to Minister Singh there is some restructuring being done to address the effectiveness of the police department.

Douglas Singh

“We are putting together the resources that are necessary. We are trying to role out the crime information management system which is an incredible data base that will help in the apprehension and conviction of criminals. That is in Belmopan presently and we are rolling it out to Belize City, the Belize District and the rest of the Cayo District which are the highest crime areas, and in the Orange Walk District and then after that nationally. There is also the AFI System which is a fingerprint system so that when somebody is processes no matter where they are processed, in which district, you can actually get their fingerprint to populate the data base and to see if you can match that person up with other crimes that may have been committed where that fingerprint was a part of the evidence. We are starting to build a database that we may not get an immediate result from but down the road when the information is out there you will be able to tie thing in more collectively countrywide and you will be able to arrest people and convict people a lot easier. There is nothing I can do directly to perhaps make the police be viewed in a different light, I think that is a process of time. It is going to be over a process of time where the relationship between the public, the media and police officers. It is important that there is a working relationship and a better perception of the police department by the public and vice versa for us to get the king of success with respect to crime. We are going to put everything in place to put systems in place to develop discipline, to ensure that the police have the resources in place to effectively do their job.”

This week’s gruesome murder and cop impersonators are some of the most talked about incidents since they were reported. In the same breath the shock value is addressed the competence of the police department is also questioned. According to Minister Singh the department is doing something about that.

Douglas Singh

“Police impersonation is not a new thing. Perhaps this is the first time it has been uncovered in Belize but I certainly don’t think this is the first time this has happened in Belize. It is not the first time it has happened in most countries. Criminals will utilize the kind of things they need to do what they need to do. So somebody walking in a uniform can actually get to certain areas. They may be able to maybe talk to officers on the street and maybe talk to officers on the street and perhaps even go as far as even entering the police station. What we must ensure is that if they get to do that they don’t go beyond certain areas so that they can do anything that is mischievous. That is very important. The government promised the tooling of a forensic department, we are working on it presently. Already it has been given a piece of equipment, very expensive equipment I think about $250 thousand is the cost of it. It is a comparison microscope and that is a microscope that is used to evaluate bullets, guns etcetera to determine if that bullet came from that particular gun and if you can link that gun to a particular incident and a person then you have additional evidence for conviction. The difficulty is that we do not have the trained personnel at that level that allows us to use it effectively is court and so we have to go out and train that individual. Though once we get this lab the DNA capability will assist us down the road and being able to connect the dots and be able to increase our conviction rate.”

Operation Jaguar is a temporary measure that will be pulled back in September of this year. Minister Singh says even with the proper equipment and trained personnel the police department needs the assistance of the public especially when Operation Jaguar is no longer in effect.

Douglas Singh

“I think we need to get the buy in first of all. We are sending the message and we are doing a huge PR campaign which should start very soon about getting the public involved. There is a wonderful song that should be launched I think next week which is a part of the ‘I am Belize’. The lyrics in there speak of what the responsibility is of the individuals to participate in. You have people like the young lady Tanya Carter, you have Supa G, you have a number of singers on it even a ten year old child and I think a video may be produced with it. I think it will bring people together and get people to understand their responsibility whether it comes to trash, whether it comes to double parking, whether it comes to loitering, whether it comes to public drinking, whatever the exercise might be that we have a responsibility to help to make a difference in this country. The Restore Belize exercise is a huge exercise; it is multi-prong and elements or personnel from Operation Jaguar will also be used to complement this operation. We are no easing up we are just going to increase the amount of exercise and work that we do to try to help to make a difference. I believe that we will se improvement. I am positive, I am confident that of that. I think that though the public must be patient with us, I think it is a huge task it is not a small task. This did not get here overnight and we are not going to see the kind of positive result overnight that the public may expect. If they will bear with us a few months so that we can get all the details in place so that we can implement this exercise in a positive way and in a structures way so that we can get the kind of results that we need. So I am excited over the whole Restore Belize exercise and I hope everybody else gets to that level of excitement an buys into it because this is the way we will make positive change in this country that we love so much.”

|

|