And usually it's only Belize City that sees crime related SOE's, but back in April when the first one for 2024 was deployed, it also included Roaring Creek after PC Dylan Anthony was killed. This time, as previously mentioned, the SOE includes Cotton Tree as well. That's because the Roaring Creek police station was shot at over the weekend, but the ComPol explained that sometimes the criminals run over to the nearby village.
But what was the point of attacking the station? Was the gunman targeting an officer or did they have a grievance against the precinct?
We asked the ComPol.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"We are in search for that individual, as I said, we know who he is, but we have not been able to locate him. We are hoping that pretty soon we will be able to do so. We have gotten additional information, I will not divulge that to the media at this time, surrounding that entire incident and so as soon as that investigation is at a level that we believe we can share certain things with you then we'll do so."
Reporter:
"Can you explain to us why Cotton Tree is included in the SOE?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"We do have number of elements who are original from Roaring Creek but they have moved over and taken up residence in Cotton Tree and those people are among the group of persons who are terrorizing that entire western corridor. They commit burglaries, robberies, shootings from Cotton Tree all the way to the border area and so it is important to capture those persons as a part of the SOE. Had we just left Roaring Creek and not Cotton Tree then they could always say that they no longer live in Roaring Creek but now live in Cotton Tree and detaining them would be a violation of their rights so capturing Cotton Tree brings them into the fray and makes it better for us to deal with them."
Courtney Menzies:
"Was it the station that was targeted or was it PC Leslie in particular?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"At this time, we don't know. We have done interview with PC Leslie to try and verify from him if it is that he had any personal issue with anybody per se, that interview yield that there is no one he believed that would have been able to do that so we're looking at maybe just a random act, someone who wanted to create a scenario for themselves and so that's how the investigation is looking at this time."
Reporter:
"Allegations have been made in relation to officers in that police station and in particular one case of extortion, have you ruled out if that had nothing to do with it."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"We are not ruling out anything at this time and I am fully aware of those complaints, as a matter of fact, they are several complaints of extortion, I am not going to hide it, where Roaring Creek police station is concerned and we have addressed that issue, a number of the officers have been disciplined, some are on interdiction, some transferred and we are seeing what we can do to alleviate this issue because it is one that as an administration, we are not condoning. Once we have the evidence of our police officers being involved in these types of activities, we make sure we deal with it swiftly so if it is that maybe what you're trying to say is that perhaps one of the officers who has been interdicted as a result of extortion may now be going to target officers who are working there, that could be a possibility but at this time, we are looking at it."
But with PC Anthony killed, and the station attacked, are the residents of Roaring Creek turning on the police? Predictably, the ComPol said that that narrative was simply sensationalism.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I don't think it's a matter of anti police. So if you for example have a situation and just go shoot up a police station, that may be anti police from your perspective but not from the general public perspective. A person may do things for various reasons, we don't know yet what's the reason, we have a basic idea. To say that it's an anti police sentiment, I would not go that far but I will agree with you that it must be condemned to its greatest term and the person who is responsible or persons responsible must be brought to justice and we're going to make sure that we're going to do what we can to have that happen."
Reporter:
"These people have the means, I mean, we're talking about a calibre that's beyond the 9mm."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"It might sound huge but a 40 calibre gun is nothing. That is just like a 9mm pistol."
Reporter:
"You're not downplaying this ComPol because people are looking at this and they're concerned."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"We are concerned. Our police station was shot up, that's like our house. Our police officer's life was put in danger but I am not going to make it more sensational for you. What the media wants is to make it more sensational to try and make the police look bad. I'm not going to play into your games, I'm not going to do that. As I said before, we condemn it to its strongest term and all of us as a society including the media should condemn it to its strongest term. We cannot do things or say things that will make criminals feel as though as are glorifying them because that is what propels them to do the things that they do. But as a society, we must make sure that we have the right message, we have the right attitude to make sure that those who are responsible are brought to justice and we are doing just that. The fact that you saw a number of operations in Roaring Creek yesterday, the fact that we called an SOE for Roaring Creek, it shows that we are not taking this for granted, we're going hard at those persons who are responsible."
