Crime Control Council proposes “community solution” to reducing crime
Posted: 03/10/2008 - 11:16 AM
Author: Aaron Humes
Crime has become the main topic of the national discussion in recent months, mainly because all Belizeans are affected by it, whether directly or indirectly.
Today, the Ministry of National Security and the Crime Control Council presented their plan for tackling the ever-growing problem, which they said could not be done without the active participation of all Belizeans.
Minister of National Security Hon. Carlos Perdomo, in a press conference this morning at the Princess Hotel, outlined this vision of Belize under the National Security Strategy:
“A safe, secure Belize at peace with itself and its neighbours, where the security environment allows the development of a peaceful and democratic society that utilizes its human and natural resources to ensure social justice, ethnic harmony, security, stability and prosperity.”
The strategy, compiled with the assistance of experts from the United States and United Kingdom, sets eleven goals that, if satisfied, would result in the above vision. Among the topics addressed are terrorism, good governance, the economy, health care, education and energy.
Perdomo said the plan was set out over a 10-15 year period, and would involve all the specific agencies and Ministries mentioned above, led by the Ministry of National Security.
“We cannot afford not to make this investment,” Perdomo said of the strategy.
Specifically dealing with the second and third planks of the NSS is the Crime Control Council. Its chairman, attorney Michael Young, today unveiled a national plan agreed on in a series of consultations held over the last few months.
Young announced that beginning today, an “Operation Guns” will be started by the Police Department, the Conscious Youth Development Program and Youth for the Future to encourage individuals to turn in weaponry, including guns, ammunition and explosives.
For the next month, offices of YFF in the districts and Belize City, the CYDP in Belize City and all police stations will oversee an amnesty program to turn in these items and provide confidential information on illegal weaponry through Crimestoppers.
Unlike the infamous Cash for Guns programs of the previous administration, which Young alleges led to increased presence of guns and high-power weaponry on the streets, this program will not be rewarding individuals who turn in guns, though the measure was highly debated and a proposal to instead turn the reward into assistance in finding trades and jobs for individuals who turn in guns was considered by the Council, Young told the gathering.
The Belize City Council, Young said, would be tasked with leading the second operation, “Jobs and Clean,” in which workers would be dispatched to areas considered eyesores in the City for clean-up duties, coupled with promotions emphasizing neatness and cleanliness.
The programs will eventually be extended outside Belize City. Operation Jobs and Clean was projected to begin in November, according to Young; at the same time, police would lead a major crackdown on guns and explosives, and a “Gun Court” would be established.
Young said the CCC would solicit funding from the business community and encouraged individuals wishing to donate to the cause to do so at Scotia Bank, account #9136785.
In the long-term, the CCC’s plan would include strengthening the Police Department and criminal justice system, including the eye-opening suggestion that all Belizeans would be made to register with Social Security, young and old, in order to assist with the development of a national criminal records and statistics unit coordinated by the police.
Asked to clarify whether not having a Social Security card would be considered an offense, Young said he didn’t think so, envisioning offenders as paying a fine and being given the opportunity to comply.
Measures against gang violence and the root causes of crime, including the rebuilding of the family structure in Belize, are also among the Council’s plans.
The plan is scheduled for review within one year, by which time Young estimates Belize’s murder rate can be cut in half, from 30 to 15 per 100,000 people. (Amandala’s revised statistics through September 2008 record 77 murders, 45 of those in the Belize District.)
Minister Perdomo, speaking with Amandala after the press conference, indicated that the long-awaited Harold Crooks report, which we reported in August as closing in on its final stages, has been preliminarily drafted and will be available in November as promised, after a review by the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
When we asked if a review of Belize’s criminal laws would be considered in the plan, Young said that as a lawyer, he believed that the laws themselves are “adequate” and that the justice system instead needed proper enforcement and more resources.
Young also called for a Judges Act to ensure the independence of the judiciary. The last comprehensive review of Belize’s laws was undertaken in 2000 and occurs on average every ten years.
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