And while the alleged criminals remain behind bars, the spate of violence prior to the SOE has calmed down, and the police are able to work on open investigations. Today the ComPol said that he also put together a specialized team to deal with cold cases, and has closed many of them. He explained that it helps when there isn't a constant stream of investigations opening up because of frequent criminal activity.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Following the SOE, I had put together a team of specialized investigators from special branch, major crime, CIB, and GI3 and I had tasked them to look at all the past murders that we have had. So what they're doing is that they're going, particularly in the Cayo and Belize District area, those areas that we do have the SOE. So, for them to look at all those murder investigations and see if they can go back and re-interview witnesses, look at video footages, read the statements and see what additional work could be done to be able to identify the perpetrator of these murders and that team that I had put together which is headed by ACP Dawson I must say has been doing a very commendable job in the sense that they have been able to solve three murders. One, we had the murder of the man who was killed in Fresh Pond during the robbery, for that the guy Arnold was charged, then also solved the murder with Coleman in Belmopan and then this one now for which Budna has been charged for I think abetment to murder."
"There are a number of other murder cases that the unit is looking at as well as some of the high profiled robberies, we had also solved a couple of those robberies as well through the team that I put together. So they are doing what needs to be done to look at these cold cases and the fact that we have the SOE and we have for the most part those persons who live to make our lives miserable in prison the investigators have more time now to be able to follow up on these major investigations as opposed to before, they have not completely one investigation and another one happened and so that cycle was there and so with the lull that we're having now, they do have the time that they can take a second or third look at these murder cases and major robbery cases to see how we can solve them."
There was however another shooting in a community under the state of emergency. It happened on Saturday night in Roaring Creek. Two men on a motorcycle reportedly got into an altercation with 31-year-old Orlando Reyes. The men left the area and returned with a firearm. Police officers were at the location at the same time and intervened. The man riding pillion aimed the gun towards the officers, who then drew their weapons and fired two shots. The man holding the firearm was hit while the driver escaped into some nearby bushes. Later, the police discovered the firearm was fake. The man who was shot is now in police custody.
