Just a week into his new role, Police Commissioner Doctor Richard Rosado is already dealing with a surge in gun violence in the Belize District. Despite the challenges, Rosado remains unfazed and committed to restoring peace in Lake I. While he hasn’t specified when a State of Emergency might be declared, over sixty individuals are already in custody. If implemented, the S.O.E. could see those detained held for at least six months. Rosado also plans to reassign police officers to better address the situation. He assured that the upcoming union demonstration in Belmopan on Friday won’t interfere with current policing efforts.
Dr. Richard Rosado, Commissioner of Police
“I want to start off by saying that with the death of Brandon Baptist, the security threat was high, and with the shooting with of Rojas, it has now escalated to a critical level. So at present we are discussing with the National Security Council to see if we will implement a State of Emergency, but I do believe that at the critical stage that it is right now, there’s a need for it. I believe that one month will not suffice, two months will not suffice and we must start off at six months at the very least. But at any case, there must be some drastic measures to be taken. But before I continue with that, I want to assure the public that we’re using all available resources. We’re deploying all available resources to ensure that we restore peace, safety, and normalcy to the streets. Those incidents that recently happened, it’s totally unacceptable. And we are doing everything that is possible to bring those individuals to justice. With change in any command vacancy will be created and with vacancies, we must put people that are best fitted and qualified in those posts. And it is true that we have a number of – when one vacancy opens, it creates a number of other vacancies. So, there will be a number of shuffling that will be happening around.”
Reporter
“If the S.O.E is implemented, any idea if that is going to affect the unions’ plan to demonstrate in Belmopan, given that the police may be stretched thin?”
Dr. Richard Rosado
“The unions have a right to demonstrate as long as they do that in the context of the law and we support any peaceful demonstration provided it is done in the context of the law and the unions have always done their demonstration peacefully, so I don’t so expect anything out of the ordinary.”