Carmita Leslie's home was burglarized on Tuesday and while residents of Belize city residents almost expect to experience a burglary at some point; what isn't expected is that police stand idly by while a crime is in progress. What is interesting about this burglary is that Leslie's Currassow street home is located a stone's throw away from the 2nd largest police station in the country, Racoon street, and in the shadow of a police camera. Leslie spoke to us today and explained that what upset her most about the burglary is the apparent negligence displayed by the police.
Carmeta Leslie, Victim of Burglary
"Last week Tuesday while I was at work some guys broke into my house and someone that was passing saw them and the person called 911. The person told me that they got a response that someone answered, a lady answered and she said 'okay she is sending a mobile' and no mobile reached. The guys were in my house for 2.5 hours. When they ran the street camera it showed that the guys were in my house 2.5 hours and no police came, no mobile - no respo
nse. I lost almost $10,000 worth of items. Apparently they left just before I arrived at home, because I reached home about 3:50pm and even when I reach home I call 911 and I report that I'm reporting a burglary, they just broke into my house. I waited like half an hour. M y dad and my family reached and the police did not reach. The guys were in my yard at 1pm, the person made the call around 1:15pm."
Reporter
"What time did the police actually arrived at your home?"
Carmeta Leslie, Victim of Burglary
"They came like 4:30pm when I got home. I made the call 2 times. That is when they came. When the person called 911, it was when the guys were in my yard - they were attempting to break the door. They hadn't break the door as yet. Had they responded then the guys wouldn't have got into my house. They stole almost all my electronics, all my TVs, my son's X-box, tablets, phones - everything, because they had 2.5 hours in my house. They had enough time to search the whole house. I'm located on Curassow Street and that is like a stone throw away from the police station, right around the lane - 3 houses away from the police station. If they didn't have mobile, they could have went on foot. I am upset because of the fact that if somebody makes a 911 call, if nobody had call 911 I don't think I would have felt this bad, but knowing that someone called and they did not respond, that have me very upset, because what if it was a home invasion and I was in the house?"
According to Leslie police have explained their delayed response time by stating that that 911 calls are answered by civilians.
Email
Print