And even without the budget cut, the new officers will be a huge help to the already thinly spread human resources of the department. While nighttime crimes are down - presumably due to the former 8pm and current 10pm curfews - criminals are boldly committing offences during the day. Over the past few weeks, there have been increased shootings - some turned murders - and robberies happening without the darkness being used as an advantage. Police Minister Kareem Musa says the Ministry is well aware and is working to cut down on daytime crimes.
Hon Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs and New Growth Industries
"Of course we have increase patrols in the hotspot areas of the country. Part of our launch, our GIS forum Belize crime observatory what they are responsible for is gathering data on where it is that all of these crimes are occurring in our country - the consistency of the area in which crimes are occurring and so we are using scientific data in order to lead us in the police department to put more patrols in certain areas and so while it is that we are upping the amount of patrols in particular areas, we have to be behind the criminals because they may go into a different area to commit crimes, so that is something we are enhancing using technology and innovation."
