Regularly on the news, we show you residents of Belize City who accuse one special police unit or another of police brutality, or some other similar form of abuse of authority.
The victims regularly produce video recordings as proof of the cops overstepping. That's certainly what a group of residents was attempting to do last night when they had an encounter with police on Berry Street. One resident posted a video on Facebook showing the last minutes of the detention of several men on that street.
But, police say that in this instance, the cops showed far more restraint than the angry family members who were screaming insults at the officers. The camera then captures several instances where gunshots were fired. It was assumed that the cops did it and that they were using excessive force.
Today, when we asked the Police Commissioner about it, he said that his officers acted professionally throughout the confrontation. Here are those comments:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I know that last night, police in the Saint Martin's area encountered a group of young men; this was during curfew hours. They were throwing missiles at each other. Police pursued them and during the pursuit, police fired one or two warning shots. Some of the young men were detained and had been charged for breach of curfew and others escaped, but police is looking for them and once they are caught they will be charged as well for breach of curfew."
Daniel Ortiz, reporter
"I know that in these particular circumstances, those persons who find themselves in conflict with officers at that specific moment are emotional, but they are shouting all kinds of accusations against the police in the video suggesting that supposedly the officers overstepped their authority or did anything improper."
Chester Williams
"That's the thing with us, you know Ortiz; we tend to not want to follow the law. The curfew law was not made by police; police enforces the law. And if you know that you don't belong out there after a certain hour, your duty is to ensure that by the time that hour comes, you get your backside home. You cannot be on the street committing crime and expect the police to give you a free pass. It does not work like that. And these are the things, the amount of insult the police goes through on a daily basis, even when they are doing their jobs. It is really and truly uncalled for, but we have a job to do."
If and when those accused young men are charged and arraigned, we'll tell you who they are.
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