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Over 350 city kids got early Christmas gifts today - but the sponsors weren't local businesses, they were diplomats. Various embassies including the Taiwanese, the US and Mexico collaborated with the police give each child one toy.  It's Christmas community policing and the excited kids gathered at the Raccoon Street police station to get their gifts. Here's more

Howell Gillett - Senior Superintendent and Regional Commander
"It's the coming together off five different embassies and a high commission. It's the Mexicans, the Americans, the Guatemalans, the Brazilians, the Taiwanese, and the British High Commission. They have all come together to sponsor 350 gifts and we are so pleased for that, but we are even more pleased for considering Region One of Belize City. There are so many kids who would not have had a gift for this Christmas and we like so much to bring cheer to the young people; not because they are living in Region One side, which was formally South Side, means that you cannot be a positive person; you can dream big. You might be looking at a future prime minister here with us,  a doctor, or police officer, soldier, a coast guard officer. So, we want to leave positive memories in the minds of young people. So, what better way to be with them as law enforcers? Because the police should not only be seen as arrest-ers, but we must be seen as friends to the communities that we serve. And I believe that the secret to fighting crime, not just for now, but into the future, is the actions that we take right now at this moment to help our young people to remain positive and to have positive memories that will last a lifetime. This is the coming together of many different trouble neighborhoods. We have kids from the Martins area, kids from Conch Shell Bay, from Rocky Road, from May Flower, and it tells you a story that we could live together as a people without worrying about gang territories. But we have to instill it in them from a very young age."