Yesterday the Commissioner of Police also spoke about the very passive policing his officers did at the Tower Hill Factory in December of last year.
The Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association was blocking the entrance to the factory - but - police did not forcibly remove them. They waited until negotiations had worked things out and the farmers moved on their own. It was a good strategy for non violent de-escalation of a tense situation - especially in the PM's hometown - but the Chamber of Commerce thought the police had failed to do their job of maintaining order first and foremost.
The Commissioner volunteered comment on this yesterday:
Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"The comments as it relates to the tower hill incident with the chamber and they alleged that the government through the police failed to execute the law or disregarded the rule of law, I wouldn't agree with them because as a department, we have a responsibility and so while yes we have the power, we could have done to remove people from certain areas, we still have to ensure that we do it in such a way that it does not cost the government money and it does not cause us to have to violently engage our citizenry. We have seen in the past where these incidents occur in the north and caneros are killed or injured, so the police stayed at the tower hill to ensure that law and order was maintained and to ensure that there now was no loss of life or damage to property. The property of ASR was protected by the police presence there, there now as no damaged caused to their property, so it cannot be that we allowed the rule of law not to be executed because certainly had we not been there, damaged could have been caused to their property or the property of the caneros and the police presence and the actions that the police in terms of the police being more neutral contributed to the success we had that for the first time you can recall in history, we have these situations in Orange Walk and it did not result into a riot or people getting killed or seriously injured."
