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Yesterday we showed you the dramatic scene on the Faber’s Road when 6 police vehicles sprang into action to block the road - and stop a well known attorney’s vehicle in its tracks.  They held it there for an hour as they painstakingly searched the vehicle.  We have since learned that they found 5 rounds of 9MM ammunition - but the attorney has not and will not be charged. The commissioner told us why:…

Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"Basically the police had received information and we acted on information and it goes to show that for us, it does not matter against who the information is, once we have information that we believe is credible, we are going to act. And so yes, the police went and they pulled over the individual attorney and I'm not going to call no name and a search was conducted on his vehicle and that search yield, I think 5 9mm rounds of ammunition. He was taken to the police station, the vehicle was again thoroughly searched using other methods and I was briefed on what took place and having been briefed and the circumstances under which the ammunition were found, was not too compelling. And so, because of that we believe that it would have been unfair to levy charges against him for those ammunitions because one, his vehicle cannot lock, it remains open all night. Two, it is parked in a way where anyone can go and put whatever they want in it. Three, the locations where the ammunitions were found - man this is an attorney, I don't think you would be a fool to put those ammunitions where they were found. So it was clearly, that someone may have stood him up and so because of that, we decided, we're going to investigate this further and we're not going to levy charges against him at this time."
Jules Vasquez
"So the interpretation is that because he is an attorney, it's alright if he have an ammunition, if he doesn't have a license for his ammunition. Sir any youth on the Southside right now, you catch him with one round, he going to back."

Chester Williams
"Let us not go ahead of ourselves please. The police is not a organization to punish people. The police is an investigatory body and we have a responsibility to ensure that whenever we levy charges against someone that it is fair and just to do so. We do not operate in a name and shame fashion, we do things for that instance gratification and at the end of the day, we end up shaming and naming people and when we go to court, we cannot substantiate whatever charge we levy because of some certain circumstance that may exists. We don't want Mr. Vasquez and Mr. Moody, that you have issues with somebody and because they can't find a way to get to you, they go and plant ammunitions on your fence or in your vehicle just so the police could arrest you and send you away to prison. We have to be very careful and we must be able to apply our common sense and investigate properly when things like this occur. So I personally, as I have said, I have no issue in the decision that was made considering the circumstances and it has nothing to do with the fact that the person in question is an attorney or if he were an ordinary man on the street."

Jules Vasquez
"You said you don't think an attorney would be so foolish, that means you are operating from a position of implicit bias where perhaps because you are an attorney, you don't believe attorneys are foolish."

Chester Williams
"Whilst yes,  it would have looked good for us as a department to parade an attorney to court for ammunition charges but at the end of the day, where would that have put us? You have to the fair."

Jules Vasquez
"In the public mind it can smack of an animal farm sentiment where some animals are more equal than others. Some get the benefit of the doubt, if you're a poor black male from Southside, you don't."

Chester Williams
"I said and I don't know if you're listening Jules Vasquez, but I have given you one example where it happened to a young black male from Southside Belize City and we did not charge him and that is only one of many. The reason the attorney was pulled over yesterday had absolutely nothing to do with anything to the effect that there is some investigation of him conspiring to kill somebody, it has absolutely nothing to do with that. The police got a call yesterday that ammunitions were in the vehicle and it was on that basis that the police responded yesterday."

The attorney was released without charge a few hours after he was detained.  He refused comment.