Will SOE Be Extended and Expanded?  

When a state of emergency was introduced three weeks ago, there was talk that it would be extended and expanded to include other areas as the police department saw fit. Monday’s murder of Michael Usher, who lived in the vicinity of Majestic Alley but was shot and killed near Mahogany Street, means that the police department may have to re-strategize so as to prevent retaliation among those rival groups. This was the scope of the SOE as it applied to those areas in Belize City back in March, as explained by Commissioner of Police Chester Williams.

 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police (File: March 26th, 2024)

“The police and the B.D.F. are on operations within, not just the Antelope area, but practically the entire south side Belize City. As you would be aware by now, a state of emergency was declared this morning covering the almost entire south side of Belize city…Here in Belize City, you know that we have had a slate of shootings, two of which were fatal…The truth is we have seen a long lull Belize City. Again, I always say it takes one idiot to pull a trigger and that could cause a flare-up. And these flare-ups are going to happen occasionally, and we have to be able to have the right approach in dealing with it. As I have said to the minister when we discussed the SOE that it had reached a stage where if we don’t do something, then the cancer is going to spread further and then the other gangs are going to feel like, oh, over there it’s flaring up and nothing’s been done to them, so better we have our own thing so we have to ensure that we do something that is measurable and that is going to bring some calm.”