Belize Eastern Division Displays Major Drop in Crime

At today’s presentation of the 2024 CompStat report, which tracks crime trends in specific regions, a significant drop in crime was noted for the Eastern Division. This decrease played a big role in the overall reduction of major crimes last year. Some may remember that 2024 saw a worrying number of murders, leading the police to declare a state of emergency. Minister of Home Affairs Kareem Musa and Commissioner of Police Chester Williams shared insights into what other factors contributed to this impressive reduction in crime in the eastern region.

 

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs

“We always want to keep it below one hundred this year. It might be wishful thinking, but one day I want to see it go below fifty murders. I know that we can’t prevent all crimes, especially crimes of passion, that the police are not going to be at the scene for something like that but certainly  we can see where the second half of 2024 proved to us that peace is possible. particularly in the Eastern Division, where we saw a remarkable reduction overall, not just in homicides, but also in major crimes. And so  that is what we’re utilizing these numbers in creating our strategies for 2025.”

 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“There’s a lot that we did in Eastern Division in 2024. We sent in additional resources from SPU and MIT. The GI3 were tasked to look at certain things. We have the LIU that do run those programs with the youths and we do have. And we do have brother Nuri and Footy Gongora who meets twice weekly with those persons who were under the last SOE and, the commanders on the ground, Mr. Romero.  And Senior Superintendent Dehanne Augustin, who is the commander of Division one, because Division one is the area that has that decrease. I believe they did an exceptional job along with two precinct commanders, Mr. Pat and Mr. Mendez, who commands Precinct one and Precinct two. But most importantly, I think that we need to give credit to the foot soldiers, the constables and the carpers and the sergeants who hit the pavements every day they are the ones who ensured that our policing plan was fully implemented and that we get the results that we received at the end of the year.”