That one request led to a fatal stabbing followed by rock-throwing retaliation from the family and the machete chase - in front of two police officers trying and failing to maintain order.

Courtney Menzies went to put it all together and here is her story.

George Brown would have turned 19 in 9 days, and he would have been spending that birthday in Belize, at his home in Hopkins. The Belizean American moves back and forth between the two countries, spending months at a time at each one. He even had big plans for his future for when he went back.

But those plans were cut short by the knife he was stabbed with this morning.

Marie Brown, Mother of Deceased "Early this morning my son got up around 7 and told me he was going by Kat's Cafe to have a cup of coffee. He told me to tell his cousin Jayden when he comes by that he's at Kat's having a cup of coffee. Then I get a phone call, my daughter's boyfriend, they had an altercation over his jacket because he saw him with his jacket on and the next minute I hear that he got stabbed."

"I was lost for words, I was numb. I was in shock."

This is Brown's jacket - one of his favorites that he had for a while. He loaned it to his sister, so when he saw her boyfriend, Stephen Flores wearing it, he asked for it back. That's when Flores allegedly hopped off his bicycle and threw it at Brown.

After that a fight ensued during which Flores pulled out a the knife. After Brown was stabbed, he ran around the lane to this yard before his cousin picked him up and tried to take him to get help. However, he died before they could get there.

And while there is no justification for murder, the one-hundred plus dollar jacket is a trivial reason, but Brown's mother said that they knew Flores was trouble from the start.

Marie Brown, Mother of Deceased "From the first beginning, I didn't want to be negative but I didn't like him from the first beginning because he was, I never liked his behavior, something about him and I just kept warning her about him, when you gonna let go, when you gonna let go? Because he was abusive, he was violent, and my husband before he died, he never had any kind of communication because he never liked him. I'm not supposed to come on social media and say this but something about him that we never did approve of."

Almost immediately following the stabbing, police arrived on scene, and chaos erupted. We see a shirtless Flores walking away from the scene and Brown's still shocked family slam on a parked car. As, Brown's family follows, they become gripped by anger and began shouting and throwing rocks at Flores as he walked away with an officer. the cops try to quell the chaos but it quickly spirals out of control - so much so that one officer didn't even have a chance to put down the knife suspected to have been used to kill Brown.

With the cops firing warning shots into the air, Flores returns with a machete and the men throwing the rocks scatter. Flores runs past the cop with the knife and pursues the men with the rocks. The officer tries feebly to chase after them.

In the end, the cops were able to detain Flores and take him to the Dangriga Police Station for his safety.

It's a tragic and turbulent incident, compounded for Brown's mother as she now deals with the murder of the baby of her family along with the recent death of her husband.

Marie Brown, Mother of Deceased "His dad just died the 30th of October and the plan was to, we got here on the 5th of December and the 8th of December went to the island, Bread and Butter Caye, to dash his ashes on the water, because that was his dad's wishes. And the plan was to be here for a few months. His dream was that he wanted to go to the Navy but since his dad was battling cancer for the past 3 and a half year so that put aside for him to follow his dreams, but since we're here for the memorial service, so he was planning when we go back, he wanted to go in the Navy, that was his dream. They cut my son's life short."

And Brown said that her son was always eager to return home to Belize.

Marie Brown, Mother of Deceased "My son, he liked to keep to himself, he liked to play his music. He didn't have a lot of friends. Back in the States he would say, mom, I can't wait to go back home to be with my friends, just to have his little fun with his friends and his cousins. His favorite cousin was Jayden. And since he got here he was with Jayden every night, Jayden comes to spend the night here and they were back and forth in the cayes for the past few days. And..."

"To me, it's like a dream, I still can't believe it, I'm still in shock. It's hard, it's not easy and I just lost his dad two months ago. So it's not easy."

"He was just like his dad, everything about his dad. I don't even want to talk about it."

Prior to this, Brown had been in the US for 8 months.

]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72884 But how soon can you expect the campaigners to appear at your doorstep?

While the PM has not yet disclosed an exact date, this morning he gave us a hint:

John Briceno, Prime Minister "Whilst I have not decided, I think it's going to be more towards the first half of this year."

"We are going to fight to win all 31 seats like in every election but at the end of the day we have to respect the wishes of the people of the Belizean people and if they should decide to give us the 31 seats it something we will have to cross that bridge when we get there let's put it that way." ]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72885 Early in its term the Briceno Administration committed to finalizing a plan for redistricting exercise, but coming to the 2025 general election, all that promise has been thrown out the door, and all we have is the familiar refrain: "not ready yet!".

Still, the Belize Peace Movement is in court pushing the case forward, the PM says there's just not enough time:

John Briceno, Prime Minister "Whilst I firmly believe that there must be redistricting, unfortunately it's still in the National Assembly until that comes out from there then you can proceed with it. But the truth of the matter is that elections are upon us and I don't think we will have enough time to be able to do the proper delineation and the list and having the different representatives to be able to know who's going to be in their area or not so it's something that I would definitely give special and urgent attention if we are given the opportunity to form the next government." ]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72886 But the UDP says do it now.

At a press conference today, the Leader of the Opposition said that this exercise should have been finalized months before talk of the impending general election.

Shyne Barrow, Leader of The Opposition "The Prime Minister is not a person of his word he has demonstrated to the Belizean people that he cannot be trusted. And the opposition the United Democratic Party supports the BPM we continue to support the like minded stakeholders that believe that redistricting should take place before the general elections and we believe the actions of the government have been unconstitutional." ]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72887 But, it's likely not going to be a huge issue to voters as the drive to election commences. For marginal voters, what matters now is who's got the money, and which side is willing to spend it.

It may sound cynical but the reality is many voters ask for a form of compensation before they cast their ballots. You've heard and seen it before, and in previous years become well acquainted with what we call "bacon houses" where voters would go to collect. We asked the PM for his opinion on paying for votes. Here's how he answered.

John Briceno, Prime Minister "Certainly it's a practice we try not to encourage because it's very costly and so I know a lot of times people in the NGO community and even you in the media tell us about you talk about political finance reform, well there is nothing to reform we need to have political finance legislation and I wish we could have one, one that is practical and one that is workable because then it would allow us to spend less money so we would love to have something that can work." ]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72888 He was detained yesterday and is expected to be arraigned soon. ]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72889 Quantitatively, it's not a huge difference. But for the families of the deceased, it can mean the difference between justice denied and justice delivered.

So we pressed the commissioner on it today:

Jules Vasquez "89 to 91, I'm not saying that murder is out of control, but I'm saying that families deserve justice, sir. Belhem Guzman, Matthew Moses. And the DPP instructed you, sir, on November 13th, the DPP said, I've reviewed this case, upgrade the charge of murder, and you all have not upgraded it, because you are guarding your precious metric."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Jules Vasquez, I've known you to be a very, very astute journalist and not so good politician. You have also become commissioner of police. You have also become a lawyer. And now here you are becoming the DPP. What else is there for you to become?"

"You are everything. Every instruction given to the police by her Majesty's director of public prosecution is adhered to under my command. I do not encourage my officers not to adhere to directives from the DPP."

"So I don't know where you're getting your stats from, but..."

Jules Vasquez "So there's no such directive?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Again, what you're spewing or what you're trying to digest is not worthy of your stomach. Spit it out."

Jules Vasquez "I have johncrow belly, sir."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Spit it out, Jules."

Jules Vasquez "And in the other case, a gentleman killed in San Pedro. He has four entry wounds between his back and his head."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "That person was charged for murder? That's why I don't know what you're talking about."

Jules Vasquez "I don't know that he was charged."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "He was charged for murder, Jules."

We checked multiple court, police, and prosecution sources, and no one has been charged for the Matthew Moses murder. The DPP's office has not received the post mortem and is waiting on a statement from the examining doctor.

As regards the Belem Guzman murder, information to us has established that the charge against Allen Coye was in fact upgraded to murder on November 21st. ]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72890 And in the middle of all this was the Police Minister's driver, Paul Ferguson, otherwise known as Chicken Dread. Ferguson was at Lunette Dominguez's residence on Boxing Day when the incident occurred, and he was reportedly seen driving Kareem Musa's ministerial vehicle.

We asked Musa about it today.

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs "First of all, you have to understand when you say Paul Ferguson was involved in a domestic situation, he was not involved in anything. He was at the scene with a friend who was involved, who was allegedly involved. So let's get the facts correct. You have to look at the facts of that case. It is a longstanding rift between, family members, which resulted in one side throwing water, she admitted to throwing water albeit she's saying it wasn't hot. And then the other side reacting. Paul Ferguson being there, I believe was to support his friend. But he did nothing else in terms of intervention, because I feel that the media and this individual who is aggrieved felt that somehow, they wanted to say that that is the reason the person wasn't charged. But the ComPol can tell you we insisted that that officer be charged and was charged with harm, even though it could quite possibly have been a case of defense of others. If someone throws hot water on your family member and you react, that is that could be defense of others, which is a full legal defense. But in this particular case, it was important that the officer also be charged so that that matter can be properly ventilated before the courts. Paul Ferguson has access to the motor vehicle. He is my driver, so I don't see what that issue is."

Jules Vasquez: "But should he have exercised discretion in the use of the ministerial vehicle when he knows that you're entering as an outsider into a thorny situation."

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs "So how is he supposed to get from point A to point B is what I'm saying."

Jules Vasquez: "Well, his ride is- but it's the state that's paying for that."

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs "I agree, but I work on weekends as well, Mr. Vasquez, so he has that vehicle to pick me up to take me to-."

Jules Vasquez: "That's not his personal vehicle."

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs "It's not his personal vehicle, I agree, I agree with you." ]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72891 Shyne Barrow, Leader of The Opposition "Shortly in short order the party will present its 31 candidates so we have not made an official presentation of our 31 candidates but what you have seen is the party leader tour of the regions so I met with the southern region standard bearers those are all set in place those standard bearers I met with the western region standard bearers, I've met with eastern region standard bearers and I will meet with the northern region. But there are still some finalizations that need to take place as far as standard bearers are concerned with the nominations committee and the central executive." ]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72892 Shyne Barrow, Leader of The Opposition "Some of the Standard Bearers are official standard bearers and the rest are applicants, they have submitted their application."

Reporter- "Why take a photograph with just applicants?"

Shyne Barrow, Leader of The Opposition "Why not? Who are you to tell us?"

Reporter- "It's an action in futility if you haven't yet decided how it is you are going to go and the process is not complete yet."

Shyne Barrow, Leader of The Opposition "Well I leave you to your opinion that is your opinion I don't think you can tell the party."

"Don't cut me off that was an attack on something that stakeholders are applicants. These people are ready to go and we are ready to go and we are not going to be held up we are not going to keep waiting at the alter and you said it so you are contradicting yourself you said that time is running out and I'm tell you that you are absolutely right. So we cannot not have an engagement of our standard bearers and our potential standard bearers they need to be ready." ]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72893 Shyne Barrow, Leader of The Opposition "He's not the only applicant for Albert mind you. But Mr Espat has done well in my view in being and advocate for the Belizean people he is not someone that can be accused of any partisanship and in my view he is the type of candidate the Belizean People have been saying that they want an outsider, disrupter not the garden variety run of the mill politician that will get in there to self enrich and to self preserve so if the public is serious about change and disruption and revolution and overhauling the system that would be a candidate that they should vote for."

Uc Espat indicated in a Facebook comment today that he may re-think his candidacy. ]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72894 Shyne Barrow, Leader of The Opposition "We have in the United Democratic party been working arduously in every constituency for the last three years under my leadership, we have intensified the work to prepare and to be ready to deliver victory in each constituency over the last few months as we know we are approaching a general elections which is why mediation we welcome it, but I have given the public my view that party is not necessarily serious and so we have applicants that have been approved but we are staying in the process of approval in order to have given a chance for the other side to come to the table and do a coalition as outlined. But those applicants are stakeholders in the constituency and they are ready to go and they are working and doing their part and that's why we are having this regional meetings and once we make the decision they will be ready to go they won't be on their back foot because they are already doing the work because they are people who love their constituencies. These are people that want to serve and so they are ready to serve. So have no doubt this talk of a sweep will not happen. I appreciate the academics and political pundits and there is always a possibility of anything there is a possibility that the UDP will form the next government and upset all of those nay sayers." ]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72895 Shyne Barrow, Leader of The Opposition "I along with my colleagues in the UDP central executive, membership executive felt very strongly about finding a solution to the impasse with the alliance for democracy party. We have been trying through third parties at mediation in order to in the very least have a coalition with the media would concede I had put forward that proposal a few months ago when the alliance for democracy party had their activity and when I put that forward that was rejected by Tracy Panton I assume she speaks on behalf of her alliance colleagues we had put that out there and it was rejected but we have been working behind the scenes over the last few weeks in the interest of a strong opposition to the government. Phillip Goldson did it with Sir Manuel Esquivel in 1993."

"The four seats that we think are viable that align with the alliance which are the three seats that we have, Albert, Collet, Queens Square and in addition Cayo North would see those lady and gentleman return to the UDP and run as UDP candidates but in order for that to happen Tracy Panton needs to Disabuse herself of the notion that she is any leader of any UDP She is not even a member of the UDP as it stands she could consider herself a UDP she could have it in her mind that yes you know before she was a PUP under Mark Espat in his campaign she became a UDP, but the UDP is an organization and we expelled her but we would be prepared under a second proposal so there are two proposals on the table to not just rescind her expulsion and that of Patrick Faber but to rescind the expulsion of Beverly Williams and John Saldivar." ]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72896 More proof of that came today when a new UDP office appeared on Euphrates avenue in the Mesopotamia constituency - and it is not associated with UDP area rep Shyne Barrow. We saw former disgruntled constituency loyalists of Shyne Barrow manning the office - which is still being set up.

Who did appear was Lee Mark Chang, Tracy Panton's likely candidate for Mesop who would presumably challenge Barrow in a three way race along with PUP candidate Lawrence Ellis. The office is across from the Chang family's original Chon Saan Restaurant. It is around the corner from Shyne Barrow's office. Chang was seen active in the area today. ]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72897 Jules Vasquez "When the when the PUP sees this lineup of candidates for the UDP in the eastern area, they look like sitting ducks. I mean, from a political perspective, you all have to be overjoyed."

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs "I, I wouldn't say overjoyed. Just but it clearly demonstrates that there has been no sort of meaningful mediation within the opposition, United Democratic Party. Personally, If I were to objectively assess what has taken place within the UDP over the last few months, I would say that, Honorable Tracy might have jumped the gun."

"I think that what Shyne now recognizes within, his own party is that if he can eliminate the threats, meaning Tracy, meaning John Saldivar, Patrick Faber and not have them run on the UDP ticket, which I think is his objective, then he has a clear path to continue his leadership for 2030 because they cannot run if they're not UDP area representatives, they cannot run for leader."

"And so you have to look at what his objective is. So him gathering these no names, so to speak, is just filling vacancies, at this point I don't think he expects any of them to win. He just wants to win his seat so that he can continue to be leader."

Jules Vasquez "Which he might also face a challenge from a man you know to be very formidable. Lee Mark Chang."

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs "In Mesopotamia. Yes. And so they are really setting off each other. If Hot Mess were a party, I think the UDP would fill out that description quite adequately." ]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72898 Mcintire decided to return to Jamaica but an error at the Immigration Department made him miss his flight. When he was arguing about trying to get home urgently, he ended up in a scuffle with police and ended up with a fracture to his ribs.

Now, he's bringing a complaint against the police. The Minister says Mcintire just didn't meet the qualifications to stay in Belize:...

John Briceno, Prime Minister "I want to start of to say that we welcome any Jamaican coming to Belize I mean they are our brothers and sisters we all belong to CARICOM and we have the free movement of people and we've had hundreds that have come as tourists to spend time in our beautiful country to enjoy the people and culture and food. But there has been many instances where we've head people, Jamaicans that would come to Belize and say they've come on holiday and then after that they disappear they go across the border to the United States we have a responsibility to ensure that is kept to a minimum and it's unfortunate that based on what was presented to the department or to the officers they felt that he would not meet the criteria of having enough funds or the hotel that he was going to stay and it was based on that, that decision was made." ]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72899 JO- "Will Belize accept being a third country for the US to deport Venezuelans, Hatians and Nicaraguans to there are many indications that Guatemala may agree to this."

John Briceno, Prime Minister "No we will not accept it. We are a sovereign nation and they cannot force us to accept people that are not citizens of this country and as far as I am concerned we are not going to accept any citizen that is not Belizean. Any Belizean that they send back we welcome them we need workers so we don't have a problem with that." ]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72900 John Briceno, Prime Minister "We are concerned for any mass deportations but when it comes to Belizeans we have to welcome them this is their home. I have cousins that are now American citizens and I always tell them remember that that your home is Belize because they can kick you out of the United States but they can't kick you out from Belize so if they send anyone with a criminal record we hope that when they come they would be productive citizens but we can't stop them from coming back to Belize." ]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72901 Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "The analysis for last year would show that overall, we had a reduction of 16% in major crime and, a slight increase in homicide or murders."

"In other words, murders went from 87 in 2023 to 89 in 2024. Overall major crime for 2024 was, currently is 1,075. So Eastern Division accounted for a decrease of 24% in major crime. When you compare last year to 2023. Also Eastern Division represented 18% reduction in homicide. And I can say to you that 2024 is the only year in history I could recall where Eastern Division does not account for more than half of the country's murder count."

"In other words, of the 89 murders committed in 2024, Eastern Division had 39."

"But most importantly, I think that we we need to give credit to the foot soldiers, the constables and the corporals and the sergeants who, hit the pavement everyday. They are the ones who ensured that our policing plan was fully implemented and that we get the results that we received at the end of the year. So I give all praises to them along with the other outside agencies and, organizations that work with us, so that we would have been able to reduce crime in Eastern Division the way we did."

Jules Vasquez "But you haven't mentioned the most important thing you need to give credit to: the four months of SOE, including one three month SOE. That's the most important driver for the reduction of crime."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Well Jules, you have your theory. Sometimes I wonder what is your true theory as to why crime is reduced? Because the other morning on the beef. I heard you erroneously said that, crime is down because 100, of the, or over 100 of the known gang members had fled to the to the US. I now you are saying that because the issue is I don't know which of them is going to be your true theory."

"I can tell you that the. If the results of 2024 has a lot to do with one: effective policing, two, our collaboration with other stakeholders, and, three, the willingness of those young men who are known to be, problem makers in the streets to work with the police and with LIU, the community and a whole also contributed by providing information to the police."

"So I will not say that results that we got is a result of the SOE. No. It certainly has to do with all those factors I had mentioned earlier." ]]> Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=72902 Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs "I am satisfied, specifically with the performance of our police department in the second half of 2024. The first half, as you would recall, we had a sharp increase in the number of domestic murders, I believe for the first time in a long time, domestic related murders or crimes of jealousy, so to speak actually were more, I think, 18 in 2024 compared to gang related murders, which were 17 in 2024. And so that is of great concern. And the importance of, meeting a session like this with comstat is not just to review, the last quarter of 2024, but all of 2024 to see how much we can better the strategies that we formulate moving into 2025."

"The numbers pretty much mirror last year's numbers in terms of homicides. We always want to keep it below 100 this year. It might be wishful thinking, but one day I want to see it go below 50 murders. I know that we can't prevent all crimes, especially crimes of passion, that the police are not going to be at the scene for something like that. But certainly, we can see where the second half of 2024 proves to us that peace is possible, particularly in the Eastern division, where we saw a remarkable reduction overall, not just in homicides, but also in major crimes. And so, that is what we're utilizing these numbers in creating our strategies for 2025."

Who Gets The Credit For Historic Eastern Division Outturn?

So, now that everyone is pleased about the numbers - who gets the credit. Last week, you may have picked up on the slight friction between the chairlady of the LIU and the commissioner of Police - but today, it was all kumbaya:

Jules Vasquez "Who's responsible for that sharp downturn. And you also have to put an attribute for the five months of SOE that we endured in 2024."

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs "It was four months. But all of the above Jules, I think all of those, very important, positions that you mentioned, the Leadership Intervention Unit, our Commissioner of Police, the head of the Eastern Division. Mr. Romero, I think this success can be attributed to all of them, but especially all of the hard working members of the Belize Police Department. In being able, like I said, to keep those numbers down for 2024."

"And I think utilizing all the tools that we have in our toolkit, we have seen where every single tool is important, every single position, every single person is important to bring these numbers down."

Will Police Continue To Rely On SOE Strategy?

And while Minister Musa wanted to praise every point of light - you may have seen him dodge our reference to the 4 months of SOE's in 2024, which had a major downward effect on crime. In fact, every year for the last 6 years has seen SOE's. So, will that crude policing tool be used again in 2025? We asked:...

Jules Vasquez "It's clear that the police department is unable to keep homicides down without significant SOE's. That's what the last six years going back to the UDP has shown us."

"Will we see a 2025 without police and the government using that very blunt, crude, blunt instrument of SOE where citizens are deprived of their rights and liberties."

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs "Like I mentioned, Jules, I think the year 2024 and the latter part specifically of 2024 demonstrates to us that peace is possible within the streets of Belize City and other parts of the country where we have gang related crimes. I am hopeful that we will not be needing an SOE, because I think a lot of these young men who are, many of them are members of the LIU program, can see that the government is going above and beyond to provide alternatives for them, whether it is skills training, whether it is, sporting activities, whether it is a a job."

ComPol Won't Swear Against Using SOE's

And just like the Minister, the Compol wouldn't swear off on SOE's...

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Like minister have said to you, as a department we employ every tool possible to secure the peace of our people. SOE is not something that we use willingly. It is something that we use sparingly and in exceptional circumstances."

"If the need should present itself that we need an SOE, certainly I'll be the first to recommend the minister to do it, because at the end of the day we must do what is right to secure our people including to secure those same young men who have issues with each other."

"I can tell you that even sometimes their own family members are asking for it because they believe that if it is not done, they are going to lose their loved ones."

Is ComPol Chester Taking Blows For Minister Kareem?

But whether or not there's a state of emergency, the Minister of Home Affairs has retained a surprisingly resilient public image. Unlike previous ministers of National Security or Home Affairs, he remains mostly unscathed by the blight of crime. We asked him if its due to the strong public presence of the Compol:...

Jules Vasquez "I feel that because of the exceptionalism of the commissioner, and the exceptionalism - I want to specify - at public relations, that you have been spared and you have been unscathed by the fact that we still live in a very dangerous country where crime is a major national public concern."

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs "I mentioned this morning in our CompStat meeting. He does that every year. And I heard you on one of the morning shows mentioned that, the police department has taken a special inclination towards the metric of homicides. But what you don't realize is that you created that metric for us. Every single year under the UDP, you would only criticize them one time a year and give them a failing report card at the end of each year. But every week I get a question from Channel Seven specifically asking me whether I am concerned that this week's murders concerns me, because last week's last year's murder this week is lower. And so every single time for 364 days, we are bombarded with questions and criticisms specifically from channel seven."

"And so I wouldn't say that I, I'm unscathed because I get criticism from the media and that is important. The media, it plays a very crucial role in keeping us accountable, not just myself as minister or the commissioner of police, but at the same time for that one day out of the 365 days, we can say congratulations to our police officers for the hard work that they're doing, the LIU for the hard work that they're doing. Because we don't listen to the noise. The noise is constant. But at the same time, I think the public is aware that we are doing our very best, in terms of improving, not just or Belize Police Department, but also, our greatest fight, which is the fight against crime."

GOB Still Can't Get License Plates Straight

And we turn back now to the Prime Minister. In the last house meeting a month ago, he said the chronic shortage of license plates and license stickers would be addressed.

But, the shortage at the Transport Department persists and the team led by Minister Rodwell Ferguson just can't seem to get it right. We asked the PM why nothing has happened since the house meeting commitment he made:...

John Briceno, Prime Minister "Well what happened is that before that house meeting I did meet with minister Ferguson and the acting CEO Shal and what they did they ordered a large number of license plates and stickers and what has happened is that CEO Shal Confessed that he did not know the extent of the need that was out there and that's why that's finished. We already have another order and I am to check with the ministry of finance to see if they have already made the payment, an order has already been made that would with this order we should be able to address all the needs going forward."

PM Won't Touch Topic Of Proposed Panamanian Contract

And the PM wanted nothing to do with the proposed contract to the Belize Port Authority from a Panamanian firm. We told you about the 1.3 million us dollar proposals earlier this week and the PM said it is D-E-D:

John Briceno, Prime Minister "Well I think I don't know why we continue on that path it has already been said that it has not been approved end of story."

Jo- "But Reports are that the former chairman Major Lloyd Jones' refusal to embrace that contract was the reason for his term not being renewed. What can you say about that?"

John Briceno, Prime Minister "That's an absolute lie that's not true."

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