Belize Police Department Holds First Drum Line

The Belize Police Department is hosting its first-ever drum line competition at Berger Field in Belize City. Eight secondary and primary schools are battling it out for first, second, and third place prizes, along with bragging rights. The event is led by the Community Policing Unit, under A.C.P. Howell Gillett. Gillett mentioned that this is just the beginning, and with support from the business community, the event will expand to other districts.

 

A.C.P. Howell Gillett, National Commander, Community Policing Unit

“It’s a crime prevention tool, to bring young people from across the different zones within the city to show them that you can’t compete against each other in a healthy way, and that’s what that’s one of the things we intend to achieve. Another thing that we are trying to achieve is to bring parents, teachers and the community at large together in an environment like this. We’re in a non-enforcement way there are many police officers out here. They’re not enforcing the law We’re here to help our young people to show them there’s a better way or there’s a  an alternative to crime. We don’t want gang members. We don’t want criminals, especially in our young people. So we are trying to stop it from an early age.”