BELMOPAN, Belize, Police have investigated the origin of a brief video released on social media depicting a group of young men brandishing firearms.
Media reports here said that the individuals are believed to be active members of a Belize City gang. Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, said the Gang Intelligence, Investigation and Interdiction Unit (G13) is heading the investigation.
“It is alarming. To see, again, that we have some gang elements who believe that they can be showing off with their weapons on social media, in an intimidating fashion, towards their rivals and even maybe, perhaps, the general public,” Williams said.
“The video, to say the very least, is one that can be looked at as a way of promoting some gang activity, and so I have forwarded that video to the GI3 investigation team, and they are working on it to see if will be able to levy charges against those persons involved.
“We have identified all the parties in the video, and I hope we can levy charges against them for using a video to promote gang activity. The fact remains that they produced the video,” Williams said, adding, “it is not that someone forced their hands or edited a video and put them in a video they were not a part of.
“The video is original and was created by them and, again, with illegal weapons. So if they want to raise that defense, it certainly will be a matter for the court to determine if they are going to allow that defense to exonerate them from the charges,” he added.
Meanwhile, Williams said the Belize Police Department is working overtime this weekend to ensure that the New Year’s festive season continues without much incident and that in the old capital, officers will be deployed on foot and mobile patrols.
For the New Year’s countdown, a detail of officers has been assigned to Digi Park and elsewhere in the country.
“Our officers will be patrolling the different hotspots and business areas, all to ensure that we maintain law and order. We also have our extra patrol out, assisting the regular working police officers.
“We know that there will be several activities bringing in the New Year, and so, again, our presence at those activities will be essential to ensure that law and order are maintained. “
Williams said while there are going to be those who will be excited about being allowed to live to see another year, there are also going to be those who will be too excited and may want to use the opportunity of the midnight fireworks to discharge weapons, as well as to target those persons with whom they may have issues during this year.
“And so, it is essential for us to ensure that we maintain a strong presence. We know we have the biggest event of the night, which will be at Digi Park. We have a complement of officers that are going to be working that event along with other events across the country.
“We know that liquor establishments will be open until two a.m., and there will be several parties at different bars and restaurants and so forth. So again, making sure that our presence is there strong to allow people to feel free and confident to celebrate the New Year,” the top cop added.
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