ComPol Says Police are Going After Gangs in Twin Towns

A bitter feud that continues to play out among rival groups in the west, claimed the life of Anthony Smith on Sunday night in Santa Elena Town.  The thirty-year-old Avella Street resident, according to Commissioner of Police Chester Williams, was a suspect in a deadly shooting incident that ultimately claimed the life of David Galindo several weeks ago.  The attack on Galindo, who was also shot while purchasing food in Santa Elena, led to members of his family storming the San Ignacio Community Hospital and coercing the medical staff into providing emergency treatment to the shooting victim.  It’s a problem that the Commissioner of Police hopes to resolve with the establishment of a separate precinct in Santa Elena in the coming weeks.  The twin towns, he says, are not part of the existing state of emergency.

 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“We have to understand that, one: the San Ignacio/Santa Elena area is not under SOE, so please don’t try to… you introduced it first by saying, “since the SOE.”  So, in other words, you’re trying to pull that into the SOE which should not be. We have to understand that as police officers, we are creatures of law.  There are several things that we would like to do to make sure that criminals are place where they belong, but we cannot do it because we don’t have the legal authority. While there are certain things that we want to get done, it is going to take a little time.  I have met with the people of San Ignacio/Santa Elena explained to them what we are doing and that process is underway.  We are still hoping that the police station for Santa Elena is going to be completed within the one month timeframe that we had given the public and we’ll be able to house that police station with police officers.  We already got a new vehicle that should be deployed to the area by Monday for the officers to be able to carry out their responsibilities.  In the meantime, we have GI3 in the area, they are doing the gang investigations.  You now that the gang investigations are not an overnight investigation.  These are investigations that take at least three to six months to be able to gather all the information to convince a court beyond a reasonable doubt that these people are gang members.”