Southside Commander Howell Gillett brought in prison labour today to clean up a crime ridden area that has seen three women murdered. The area between Tibruce and Aloe Vera Street saw the murders of Berandine Lauriano and Delcia Blanco, and Theresita Flowers just weeks apart. Now these streets are just a block apart - but there was enough space for killers to carry out a blood vendetta.
Now, residents say all this killing was facilitated by the bushy overgrowth in the area - so the Commander brought in the prisoners to clean up the area:...
Sr. Sup. Howell Gillett
"What we've seen in the Tibruce area with the double murder and other shootings that have occurred in that area was that two things readily became evident. It was the overgrown lots in the area as well as the poor lighting situation. So we have to address it. If we are serious about fighting crime then we have to do all within our means as the police. And there are many things that we are doing that are not the conventional part of policing but we have to go out of the box to keep crime at a very low level, to keep our residents safe, to create safer neighborhoods and that is what we did in the Tibruce Street area. But when we made the announcement earlier in the week that we were going to clear this area and then residents of the Rocky Road area said that they have some issues as it relates to overgrown lots; and we did that. While we were there residents started to say on social media to kindly look at a lot on Tiger Street and that is the reason why we did that third area and we are happy to have done so. We believe that the work that we have put in those areas will lend to a lower crime rate in the area because you know as well as I do that criminals don't like opened spaces and they don't like well-lit areas. So, we will do all in power to help the residents. But on the flip-side or conversely we ask the residents to please work with the police. If you don't trust every police there has to be one that you trust. Tell us what is affecting you; tell us how to get the guns and ammunition off the street."
"So what I've been telling people and I'm encouraging the Sr. Superintendent is that we can have an audience with the mayor as well, start to clean up those abandoned properties because that is where the criminals hide their guns and ammunition. So, if we start to clean these spaces and start to make citizens responsible for cleaning up their abandoned properties, it goes a long way in stemming crime."
"And there is an idea at the moment regarding these empty lots. We want to create them into some form of activity, especially for young people. But it is only in the discussion phase and very soon we will be going headlong into trying to make these communities safer. Without getting into the full details there is work to be done and very soon residents will see new things happening in their areas throughout the South Side of Belize City."
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