And that heavy police presence in the Rocky Road area will remain for a while because of the blood feud between those residents and their neighbors over on George Street. According to the Police Minister, they're trying their best to prevent any possible retaliation.
And Minister Musa added that, while the process is slow, they're working to try and quash crime in other feuding neighborhoods.
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs & New Growth Industries
"What I can say is that we have, along with the Belize Police Department, certainly upped the presence of the patrols in particular neighborhoods where it is anticipated that there is a likelihood of retaliation, as you know, a gentleman lost his life on father's day, and I don't care who they say is his son, that man was not involved in any crime and so it speaks volumes to where we have come as a society for such a cruel and certainly mindless, senseless, heartless act to have taken place. It certainly has ripped the family apart but at the same time, the Belize Police Department understands the task at hand and it is employing its best efforts, like I mentioned earlier, just being, in terms of the surveillance, in that particular area, we have already retrieved and recovered two illegal firearms in just one day and so we are very wary of the situation and it certainly lay a very tense time but the police is doing the best they can do right now."
"When you look at the two approaches that we're taking, one with the police department and one with the leadership intervention unit, I always say if we're able to save just one life from a life of crime, we have succeeded. I can tell you that we have changed hundred of lives already. That does not mean we have eliminated crime and so while it is I know that while society anticipates that this is going to be a quick remedy, there is no quick fix to something that has taken years, that has taken decades to actually develop. This started in the 1980's as you know with the crips and bloods and now we have over 29 gangs all across Belize city and so it's definitely going to be a challenge to contain but at the same time we're cognizant that what we're doing with the LIU is not at overnight fix."
