The BPD holds the first COMPSTAT meeting of the year

Today, the Belize Police Department held its Computer Performance Statistics (COMPSTAT) meeting at the Police Training Academy in Belmopan. Police commanders from the various regions, divisions, and formations gathered to discuss the country’s crime statistics. The bi-annual meeting also gives the department a chance to assess whether its crime-fighting strategies have been effective. Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, explained that the national meeting was put off in the past due to COVID-19.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police: “Certainly we were in the era of covid and we could not have congregated at the magnitude we would need to for COMPSTAT or National COMPSTAT. While yes the different regions had been having their local COMPSTAT when it comes to National COMPSTAT we have not had since the year began and we contemplated having one in the month of August but then I said to the commander its best we wait until the end of the third quarter and we just do one then and then the end of the year we do the other one which will then reflect our entire stats for the year. And so we are here now looking at our figures for the first three quarters and try to see the areas that was not as good as we anticipated and make some adjustments to be able to make it better going forward during the rest of the year and at the same time to look at our areas that we did well and see how we can do more of those things that made us succeed for the first three quarters.” 

ComPol Williams added that while the number of murders and other major crimes is down when compared to last year, the police continue have observed an uptick in gang violence, particularly in the Old Capital. 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police: “Certainly Belize City remains the epicenter of murders in the country and I am sure you would agree that majority of the murders that took place in September came from left field. Those are not the areas of–  they did not occur in the area of concern and are not the conventional types of murders that we are accustomed to seeing. We look for example at the ones in the north the one after carnival and the one at Chan Chen Village. Then we can look at the ones down south the one with a young lady found in a cemetery and then the one with the guy who was escorting the woman home and then the ex came and inflicted machete wounds to him and killed him and likewise the one in the west the one with the bar owner again that’s from left field so it’s not like the type of murderers that we would normally be accustomed to and I can tell you that we have been doing a lot to stem the gang violence because those are the ones that were plaguing us since the year began and the month of September, the month of August we did well in terms of containing the gang violence but then non conventional types came out from nowhere and then have us where we are now. But indeed our figures in terms of numbers are down and our overall major crime numbers is also down not by much but it is down compared to last year.”