Last night, we gave you a recap of all the murders that occurred last month. The spike in killings caused May 2021 to tie with very deadly months in 2012 and 2018, but a major part of that surge was caused by gang violence.
In an attempt to truly get a handle on the social ills that breed gang activity, the Behavioral Modification and Conflict Management Services (formerly CYDP) is attempting to collaborate closely with government agencies and departments that interact regularly with at-risk youths. A task force, with representation from Behavioral Modification, the Police Department, the Wagners Youth Facility, and the Belize City Council, has been formed to make interventions between warring gangs in hopes of resolving some of their deep and long-lasting conflicts.
Last Friday, the task force organized the first meeting between some of the city's most influential gang members for meaningful discussion on a ceasefire.
Today, the Director of the Wagners Youth Facility hosted a teleconference briefing with the press on how that first meeting went, and here's what he had to say on the topic:
An important element of last week's meeting was that these neighborhood leaders were invited to participate of their own free will, instead of being forced, after being rounded up by police.
