Early this morning it was VIP's in the hood - as a high level delegation from the World Bank visited Gungulung and Police Street in the Lake Independence area.
Deputy Prime Minister and area rep Cordel Hyde led the delegation of Cabinet Ministers, Cops and consultants to get a snapshot sampling of the forces that drive crime, violence and poverty in these neighborhoods.
7News was there Here's some of what they saw and heard on those Belize City streets.
The Baptist yard on Police Street made headlines in March of 2022 when police welding batons and firing rubber bullets tore through the area on what looked like an urban terror campaign.
And again this morning armed police swarmed the area. But instead of rubber bullets and roughing up it was handshakes and good humour with the high-level delegation including four cabinet ministers, all the senior police brass, and a team from the World Bank including security specialists went to the base of Back-a-Lands - this time to listen:
Voice of: Area Resident
"I wah be real with you. I feel like progress will happen right. I will be real with you we're tired mein. We all grew up together and ate out of the same pot, check. We're tired so we are asking you to help us."
Chester Williams, Commissioner Of Police
"You would have seen that we were in the Back A Land area, that is where the Baptist live and they had a good talk with the Baptist, they were allowed to share their views and experience with the delegation and the delegation likewise told them certain things in terms of what, um, their appreciation in terms of what they are seeing on the grounds. And so we are hoping that whatever if any at all the World Bank can do, it will be able to dovetail into the multi-sectoral approach to fighting crime."
"Yes, certainly and we have shared with them the concept document for the multi-sectoral approach to fighting crime and they are very excited about it as a matter of fact they had asked to meet with some of the guys from the streets if you would seen."
And the Commissioner felt that this first-hand experience with residents of Gungulung and Police Street could only mean a better appreciation of their needs from these World Bank representatives.
Chester Williams, Commissioner Of Police
"The good thing about it is that they are not in their offices in different parts of the world, but rather they are on the ground and they were able to see first-hand what it is that some of our people in Belize go through and I think that the fact that they got that appreciation first-hand that will help them to be able to make a more sound decision in terms of how they can assist Belize."
And while the sight of a massive luxury bus full of VIP's with a police escort at the height of the morning rush hour in this economically depressed area certainly turned heads - the Babylon by bus did not seem to impress - some of them were more bewildered and others "bex".
Area Resident, Police Street
"Scenery for nothing, scenery for nothing. They waste people's time when you see them you get mad with them, and they don't do anything."
Chester Williams, Commissioner Of Police
"Well, I think that if they were to look at the track record since this the government came in they would have seen that there is an urgent effort being made to address crime, um, the Minister of Home Affairs has been extremely busy with us, even on the ground to make sure that we get the resources we need as well as other guidance to be able to address the crime problem."
The Cabinet contingent included, Ministers Cordel Hyde, Kareem Musa, Anthony Mahler and Chris Coye.
And after that two hour tour, the session segued into a special Monday Cabinet meeting with the members of the Executive Board of Directors of the World Bank, who are, quote, "currently in Belize on a fact-finding mission and to see first-hand the strengths possessed and challenges faced by Belize in its national development."
