And while the department may have to lean on Dawson's mediation method, the LIU has another issue on its hands: the possibility that active members could still be engaging in gang related activities.
Recently it was exposed that Alex Underwood was arrested and charged in July for being a member of a gang despite being employed under the LIU.
It aroused public suspicion that the LIU may be failing to meet its objective - and that its being taken advantage of by mercenary gang affiliates. Dr Rosado denied that:
Dr Richard Rosado, Deputy Commissioner of Police
"Out of the membership of the gangs we have in Belize City I believe that there are approximately a thousand of them. The LIU engages with approximately 300 of them who are actively involved in different programs of the LIU so it's approximately? or less than?. So if one individual falls out of like it does not mean that the LIU programme is failing it simply means that, that individual needs to be held accountable for his actions."
"Remember as police, as a law enforcement agency we have a wide continuum of policing strategies that are available to us from community oriented policing to tactical policing or what we refer to as combat policing. Where on that continuum will we place the police department is highly dependent on the context on the ground. So if an individual falls out of line and commits an offense then we must apply all applicable law to make sure that it comes back into compliance."
