Important Note: This Internet version of 7 News is a verbatum
transcript of our evening television news script. Many interviews on our newscast
are conducted in Creole. In the interest of clarity for our foreign readers,
we attempt to paraphrase the Creole quotes in English
A fisherman was fatally shot in Dangriga yesterday morning inside his own yard. And it wasn't the first time 49 year old Charles Bradley Jr was targeted. According to his family, he wasn't a troublemaker, but those around him might have led him to his death, particularly his adopted son, who is serving time in prison for murder.
But because Bradley himself was known as someone who assisted his community with whatever he could, his family was devastated when they discovered he'd been killed. Courtney Menzies traveled south to Dangriga and has this story.
49 year old Charles Bradley Jr was supposed to head out to Tobacco Caye today but yesterday, while sitting on this cement block in his yard, he was executed by a bullet to the head.
He'd made plans to go with his mother to church that morning, but he told her something felt off, so he decided to stay home and cook. By the time his mother returned from church, he was lying in a pool of blood.
Margaret Robateau Vernon, Mother of Deceased "When I was coming from church, I stopped at a neighbor before I came home and as I entered the lane there, a little young boy said, good morning miss, I sympathize with you. I said, for what, son? He said, they just shot your son over there. I said, can't. And then one of my church members came and met me and said it's true. They said the police got the message about 10 to 9 and I was coming here probably 10:30 so when I came here, everything was done. I couldn't go and see him, I saw him through the bushes there lying down on the ground and then the police asked me to go and sit until they finished investigating. Then I went and saw him and I asked if I could get his tennis and his watch and he had some money in his pocket and they gave it to me."
And Bradley had been targeted before when a gunman shot up his home with him inside. But his mother said he decided not to take legal action.
Margaret Robateau Vernon, Mother of Deceased "He went to court to tell the person that they would drop the case. The magistrate asked him if he was dropping the case for revenge, he said no, put that in God's hands because he started going to church with me, everybody was praying for him."
"I can't say if he's involved or not, I don't know who did it. I just see my son down there but I'm glad I got closure because right now one of my kids' fathers is missing and they don't know anything about where he is. He's Eugene Leslie from Burrell Boom."
And one of Bradley's closest friends says that he could have been caught in the crossfire since he was sitting right next to him.
Nolberto, Friend of Deceased "He's like a bredrin to me. I won't say a bredrin, I'll say a father. He takes care of me, anything I need, I come to him. I'm someone that's close to him more than anybody. Ten minutes before that happened, I was right there sitting with him before that happened, ten to fifteen minutes before that happened, I was right there chilling with him."
"I didn't believe it because I could have been the same one right there with him too, sitting down right there at that time and maybe I would get harmed too, depends who came for him. But that was a good man. He took care of my kids, he gave my kids money everyday for school. All the kids that pass, he gives them a dollar or two, pencil, books. When it's Christmas, we go and buy like $500 worth of gifts and every kid that passes, he takes care of all the kids. The man isn't a bad man. People around him are bad but he's not a bad person."
And that's why there's speculation that the murder is related to Bradley's adopted son, currently serving time in prison, but the family isn't putting the blame there just yet.
Reporter: "Do you think it's linked to his son that's currently in jail?"
Nolberto, Friend of Deceased "I won't say it like that but maybe it could be that because that could be the only thing, because he doesn't harm anybody, he doesn't do anybody anything. Just could be maybe some family member around him did something out of the way and they didn't catch the person so they caught him. That person is a changed person, they took away a good man from all of us."
And though his mother has been through a lot, she now have to cope with the loss of her only son.
Margaret Robateau Vernon, Mother of Deceased "He is my only son, he's 49 years old, I had him when I was 16 years old. I'm a single mother but his father kidnapped him and my daughter when they were very young and she's Guatemalan now and he came back when he was 4 years old."
"I had my daughter last night, cursing out all these people because she got high, she was very close to him. All of them are close but I told him they have to hold it out for me because I have to hold up, I'm sick, have diabetes and I don't want to break down."
And according to the ComPol, the police have a suspect that they are currently searching for. And while they have no definitive motive, they do believe it's related to Bradley's son, Jaheim, who was charged for the murder of 23 year old James Aranda. Now, the cops are moving in to prevent any retaliation. Williams told us more.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Police investigation so far reveals that Bradley was his yard when two men passed on a motorcycle, one of whom fired shots in his direction, and those shots were what caused his fatal injuries. At this time police is looking for one individual, we have not been able to locate that person as yet."
Jules Vasquez: "When looking at the motive, we know that his son was charged for murder on December 30th for the Christmas Day murder. Is it related to his son's murder charge?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "It could be, it's an angle we're looking at but at this time there's nothing to substantiate that motive but we highly believe so."
Jules Vasquez: "We know he was a fisherman out at Tobacco Caye, he worked on a long term basis over at that caye. Is there any indication, we know that oftentimes fishermen in those areas sometimes they come up on something or maybe they're linked, somebody hear they have something they found while fishing, is it by any chance linked to his activities as a fisherman?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "I cannot say that at this time but you would know that Bradley himself has his own past and so there are several possibilities we're looking at and there's nothing we can definitively point to as a motive at this time."
"I have directed Mr Grinage, commander of operations to go to Dangriga Town immediately following the conference so I guess he is going to be on his way very shortly, to sit with the commander in Dangriga to see what strategically we can put in place to avoid any retaliation."
Jules Vasquez: "I think a motorcycle was used for the escape in Dangriga as well?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Yes."
Jules Vasquez: "The person didn't have on a helmet, were you all able to get any surveillance videos?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "The police are still trying to see if we can get any surveillance footages we have people who certainly saw what happened but they are not cooperating with the police so we have to find ways to go around that at this time."
And while police are looking for the suspect in that murder, they've charged one person for the murder of 21 year old Floyd McFadzean. We told you that on Thursday night, McFadzean had left home around 8:30 in the night, picked up some friends, and was then shot inside his vehicle on Cemetery Road. While he was killed, the three men inside his vehicle were all injured.
Police have since arrested and charged Shenyon Levi Barrow. The Commissioner gave us more details.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Police have since conducted investigations into that matter which revealed that the white car had gone somewhere in the St Martin's area and leaving out of St Martin's, they were followed closely behind by a motorcycle and reaching the area of Constitution Park, one of the persons on a motorcycle fired multiple shots at the vehicle, causing the fatal injuries to the victim. Police investigation have led to the arrest of a guy from the St Martin's area, his name is Barrow. He was charged for one count of murder and two counts of deadly means of harm against the two other persons."
Jules Vasquez: "The murder victim, according to his family, was a working man, but were the other persons with him, who we know are associated with George Street, etc., were these persons in the vehicle targeted as a result of ongoing gang rivalries?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Yes certainly there were persons in the vehicle who are of gang affiliates and I concur with the statement of the family of the deceased that he is not an active gang member per se. but like the father rightly mentioned, it could have been because of the company he kept because while he is not out there actively involved in gang activities and indeed he is a working person, he does have friends who are a part of the George Street gang and we certainly believe that he was not the intended target but again he was the one driving the vehicle and so he was caught up in that issue and that led to his death."
And McFadzean's murder makes the third drive-by shooting in the city this year. That, combined with Bradley's murderers using a motorcycle, has the police on high alert. But the ComPol explained that they are continuing their mediation efforts to reduce the chances of retaliation. He said that for Belize City in particular, the frequency of murders has dropped.
Jules Vasquez: "We know that there's been this ongoing escalation. You yourself was involved in a mediation which we know was a failed mediation. Are you able to say what is the status of these ever escalating hostilities in the city and how will you all deescalate it?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "I don't know how you arrive at a failed mediation conclusion, I don't share that sentiment because I think you would agree that since we had the last escalation in Belize City, we have seen a tremendous decrease in the activities coming out of Belize City and yes, like has always been the norm, there's always going to be this one off but certainly as a department we look at that and Mr Romero was not able to make it to conference today but I will be communicating with him very shortly and as I have been communicated with him over the weekend, making sure that we maintain our strong presence in certain areas of Belize City and those areas in particular George Street and the Martin's area and as well the Port or the Cesar Ridge area, those are areas of concern for us. We do this without neglecting our responsibility to other areas of Belize city because you all know that every area on Southside Belize City does have the potential to flare up at any given time so we have to ensure that while we cover certain areas, we still need to make sure we have the other areas covered as well so if it requires we need to send additional manpower to Belize City to quell the issue then we are going to do that but so far I believe that Belize City has been a bit under control and we're hoping that we can keep it that way or make it better moving forward."
Jules Vasquez: "Are you concerned with this new MO that has twice been used to target members of the George Street gang where they aren't necessarily in a murder turf but they're attacked in vehicles in drive by shootings?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Of course, every incident that has to do with violence we are concerned about. The issue is as I said to my commanders this morning, we have to pay keen attention to those gang members who are moving around on motorcycles. They are the problem and I have given them certain tasks this morning in conference, I'm not going to say what the tasks are but we have to ensure that we do what we can to eliminate those persons who are using these motorcycles to go and commit crime and when I say eliminate I don't mean to, because I know you could interpret things how you want, I don't mean to take them out, but I mean to remove the capabilities from there to be able to go and do these types of acts. They tend to use motorcycles because it is easy for them to maneuver through the traffic and even through the narrow alleys and so forth and evade the police easily so it is something we have been focusing on but we need to pay more attention to it."
You could say he was the Minister who played hard to get. Chris Coye was announced as a Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance one week ago, but he never took his oath along with all the other Ministers and Ministers of State. The PM said at the time that they were trying to work things out. We don't know what that entailed or what, if any, may have been his conditions, but 7 days after everyone else, Coye took his oath of office today.
A release says, "On the advice of Prime Minister….Christopher Coye was today sworn in as a senator by...Governor-General Dame Froyla Tzalam. Senator Coye will also serve as Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance." End quote.
The Prime Minister has - on many occasions - praised Coye for his accomplishments in the Ministry of Finance.
Turning back now to police matters, a viral video of a cop pistol whipping a man in Maya Center village has once again brought the police department under heavy public scrutiny.
Police were called to respond to a family dispute at a home in the village on Friday. The report was that an older sibling had threatened a younger one with a knife.
Police say when they got to the house and questioned Johnathan Rodriguez about the weapon, he said there was none. A struggle ensued as a corporal and the constable attempted to subdue him.
During this back and forth, one of the officers slapped him with the pistol and another punched him in the face.
We asked the Compol today if it was excessive:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "The information is that the young man in question had threatened, I think, his sister with a knife. Police went there. And as you can see in the video that is circulating that the police asked the young man where the knife was and, he said, which knife? And then he, as if he made a move as he was going to stand up to the police and the police hit him with a view to put him back in his place. And then the corporal who was there also seeing that he was still trying to raise up again, the corporal also hit him. Now,, I would be the first to admit that maybe to some extent, the force used by the police may be a bit excessive, but at the same time, we have to be real and look at the situation that the police found himself in. Even when the police were asking him for the knife, he said, "which knife"? But after the police hit him and he moved a bit to the right, the knife was right there under him. You saw when the corporal eventually picked up the knife off the bed, which means that he had the knife. And despite being asked, he said "which knife?" And he could have at any time taken that knife and used it, even against the police who went there. So in the instance, for what took place. While I believe that the force may be a bit excessive, I think that they acted reasonably in trying to to deal with the situation that confronted him."
Jules Vasquez "Now the young man had to be taken to Southern Regional, I think they said his arm was dislocated. Is there any update and how did his arm get dislocated?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "It's not by the police. So, let's make that clear. His arm was not dislocated by the police. And, efforts have also been made to record statements from him, and he's not cooperating. His family is not cooperating either. And, at the end of the day, like I said, the police went to that house to deal with the situation that could have, perhaps resulted in the death of somebody."
Jules Vasquez "By your actions in the case of Sergeant Makin, you have normalized the pistol whip as a standard means of suppression, of which, you know, it's totally irregular, but you have now normalized it, by not taking any sanction against Sergeant Makin."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Jules, you always have your own theory: "Normalize." I don't I don't see how it can be viewed as normalizing something. If a police officer, wantonly pistol whipped somebody, certainly that is not going to fly with me. But if a police officer is acting in the course of his duty and have no other means and uses his hand that contains a weapon and hit someone with a view to calm that person down, I am not going to kill that policeman for doing so."
Jules Vasquez "If you accept that you slapping someone with a pistol is an inappropriate use of a lethal weapon. are you able to at least make a declaration on that? Because twice you've said that officers have gone to punch, but they had a pistol in their hand, which, as you know, is not an acceptable justification. You have a deadly weapon in your hand, if it misfires, or if it accidentally fires, you can kill someone."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Like I said though, I have conceded that the force used is somewhat excessive."
Jules Vasquez "But not the force, it's the technique. You have to distance yourself from the technique."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "And that's the reason why we're trying to find other methods. I do agree that it is extremely dangerous because anything could go wrong with that gun. Right? I agree with you."
The commissioner also agreed that police need more tools to de-escalate situations without the use of lethal force. Police will now embrace use of what's called a "pepper ball" gun.
For a donation of 50 of them, Compol Williams has turned to Michael Ashcroft:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "But we have to give the police officers the tools that they need to be able to be more effective in responding to these types of issues. And so I'm happy to say that I had reached out to Lord Ashcroft following the independence issue with Mr Arzu."
"And I had wrote a proposal for a donation from him to the police for some pepper ball gun. And, he have generously agreed to donate to the police 50 of those."
"And those are going to be issued to police officers and are going to be used as a means of de-escalation. How the pepper ball gun works."
"How that works is that the police is going to if the person is behaving in a certain way, advancing to the police, the police is going to shoot you right here with the pepper ball gun. And when it touches you, it explodes and it sends a scent of pepper spray like. And that quells you, right? So it is a very effective tool."
The compol says they should get the guns in the next 2 to 3 weeks. He says officer will also receive training in its use.
A tourist was killed yesterday while snorkeling near Turneffe Atoll. 70 year old Jeffrey Le Beau was with in a tour group including his two sons. They were reported to be within a carefully marked area when the elderly visitor was run over by a speeding boat. The captain has since been detained. ComPol Williams gave us details.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Yesterday a group of tourists were snorkeling I think in the area of Turneffe. From my understanding, the area where they were snorkeling, the tour guides had the area marked off as they would normally do to indicate that there is activity taking place there and a boat came from nowhere and just ran through the place at very high speed. And ran over the tourist causing the tourist's death. The boat captain is currently in police custody. The investigators and personnel from the Port Authority went out to the scene this morning, they should be returning some time this evening but from what I am seeing, I'm not going to be the one to determine if the boat captain should be charged or not but from what I am seeing based on what has been told to me, that is a clear case of causing death by careless conduct. I think at the very least, the boat captain should be charged for causing death by careless conduct. It is common knowledge to all of these tour operators that when you see certain things in the water as markers, you are to avoid those areas because people are either diving or snorkeling there and the tour operators who took out the tourist discharged their responsibility by making sure that they had marked off the place to indicate to any boat that would come in the area that that is an area where people are either diving or snorkeling."
And in San Pedro, a female tourist was reportedly raped by a man she had been socializing with. The woman was at a bar on Thursday night with her brother when she met a man who introduced himself as "Omar." Around 3 the next morning, Omar went back to their hotel with them before the woman left with him again. That's when the incident occurred. ComPol Williams explained that the man has since been arrested and charged.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "A tourist reported to the police that she and other persons were socializing. They eventually went to a house or a hotel and they hung out there for a little while more thereafter she left the hotel along with an individual to go and drive and during that time the individual took her to a location where he had sexual intercourse with her against her will. Police have since investigated that matter and one individual was charged for the crime of rape against the tourist and he's expected to appear in court sometimes today."
Jules Vasquez "These are interpersonal encounters and there is very little you can do but are police looking closely at this case because the two persons were hanging out for a long period of time and she said in the report that her brother had gone inside and then she continued circling with this individual. Is it clear at what point or under what circumstances he crossed the line of consent with this tourist?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Well we do know we have tourists who come to our country and many of them tend to feel so comfortable and relaxed with us Belizeans because again we are a very friendly people. And our friendliness is captured by these tourists and so they trust us and it's a situation where the tourist may have placed her trust in this individual and he took advantage of her. If a woman says no then it is no and a man must respect that. I was not there with them, I don't see any reason why the tourist would lie about him. Certainly, he did something she did not consent to and so she reported it to the police."
A man on a motorcycle died from the injuries he sustained in an accident yesterday evening. It happened on the road to Trindad village leaving August Pine Ridge. He is 33 year old Aldair Blanco. Blanco was driving a red Melium brand scooter when he collided into the fender of a Mazda pickup being driven by 38 year old Bernardo Vasquez. Blanco was thrown onto the pavement and was injured to his left ankle and elbow. He died shortly after while receiving treatment at the northern regional hospital. His father says that he doesn't know where his son got the motorcycle from because to his knowledge he never owned one.
Voice of: Santos Blanco, Father of Deceased "They told me he got into an accident on the road to August Pine Ridge and was on a motorcycle but I said I wasn't sure because he doesn't own a motorcycle. That's all I know for now. I haven't gotten time to speak to anyone or with the person who hit him because I just heard he got knocked down and so I got up to go and see him. And so I was here in Yo Creek heading to San Lazaro when we saw the ambulance pass but as of now no one else has told me anything. I'm just waiting for more answers. But the motorcycle wasn't his; he doesn't own any motorcycle."
And as you might have noticed in the news tonight, the Commissioner was the only one at today's press briefing. Usually, he's accompanied by Assistant Commissioner, Hilberto Romero - but Romero couldn't make it today; that's because he was lucky to escape unhurt when a cargo truck's wheel flew off and came hurtling at his vehicle on the highway.
It happened outside Hattieville on the George Price Highway when the rear passenger side wheel of an Isuzu Cargo truck broke off and slammed into Romero's SUV - while another one of the tires flew off into the bushes on the road side.
Romero's front fender and hood were damaged and he complained of pain to his neck and lower back. The driver of the cargo truck accepted fault and has agreed to settle the matter through insurance.
There is a brand new Policy Research Institute at UB. Today the university of Belize launched BELPRI, a first of its kind which will utilize evidence-based work to influence and inform public policies to improve public policies. Jomarie Lanza was at the launch and here's her report.
UB is currently home to three institutes ranging from environmental to banking and finance, but now it has added a first of its kind: the Belize Policy Research Institute which hopes to influence and inform enlightened policy making in Belize and further sustainable development. The Director told us why it's important:
Dr. Dylan Vernon, Executive Director BELPRI-UB "Most universities around the world have some sort of public policy institute that would harness the expertise at the university and use that to do research analysis that would impact on national policies like transportation, the economy. And in the case of BELPRI there hasn't been a multi thematic institute at UB. There are others, one in environment, for example. So what BELPRI will be doing is doing a list of priorities, research areas, doing rigorous research in an independent, objective way and developing these into policy papers and recommendations for government. Clearly, we will be talking to government units and departments from the very beginning, but the whole idea is that the recommendations would be taken up by government ministries and improve or even add to the set of policies we have in Belize today."
The institute will execute its mission on four key programme areas: innovative research, engagement and influence, building networks and sustainability. Vernon also spoke about which policies are of high interest to them at present.
Dr. Dylan Vernon, Executive Director BELPRI-UB "The first two pilots we will be doing is one on regulating money in politics campaign finance regulation. But the difference is we are going to take a deep dive into it and make some recommendations for fit for purpose sort of policy in this area or legislation in this area. The second one we are working on currently is the economy and Belize's independence. But again we are taking a deep dive, how we have done, what we have done, and where we have not done well. And as it is being done by professor Victor Bulmer Thomas, who wrote the Economic History of Belize. And other than these our board the advisory board of BELPRI along with the staff will be developing our thematic areas for the next two years that we are going to be focused on. But already there seems to be things like land in Belize who owns what right now, how can we do public transport better and three do we need a language policy and if yes what would be in it."
Dr. Assad Shoman who was the keynote speaker at today's launch, emphasized the importance of independence for the institute to function properly:
Dr. Assad Shoman, Historian, Belize's Agent to the ICJ "Instead of moving deliberately and devising and implementing policies, "in synergy with the long term development plan" as the BELPRI promises, rigorous research, sound analysis and meaningful consultations through people-centred approaches that improve policy making and its impact on Belize's sustainable development. Not a moment too soon is BELPRI being created. And I truly hope you see - I'm coming to the end now right - I truly hope that it will be given the independence it needs to do its work. I recall that when I recommended the creation of NICH, the National Institute Of Culture And History I strongly advised that it be made totally independent of ministers and CEO's. It was not, and has suffered accordingly. BELPRI will not succeed if it is not independent, BELPRI will not succeed if it is not independent. Please, ministers, leave BELPRI alone but make sure you have money to continue. Thank you very much."
BELPRI will be based in Belize city. Their office is set to open and begin functioning at the end of April. The advisory board is governed by 8 members.
And, Ambassador Assad also struck a blow for the Cuban Medical Brigade. He asked when will Belize's leaders, like Ralph Gonsalves in Saint Vincent, for Mia Mottley in Barbados take a stand with the Cubans?
As we have publicized, the US has threatened to take away the visas of health officials and their families for taking. Part in what they call "forced labour."
Shoman urged Belize's officials to take a stand:
Dr. Assad Shoman, Historian, Belize's Agent to the ICJ "And now we are directly challenged by the same perpetrator of an ethnic cleansing, we are told to send home the Cuban doctors and nurses, or your ministers and officials will lose their US visa. Some leaders of the Caribbean have made public pronouncements like prime minister Mia Mottley of Barbados. If we cannot reach a sensible agreement on this matter then if the cost of it is the loss of my visa to the US, then so be it. Principles only mean something when it is inconvenient to stand by them. Will our leaders take the same stand? Should they? These are crucial issues and there will be many others that our policy makers will have to take decisions on. iIn doing so they will serve us better if they based their decisions not on emotions but on evidence based analysis which an institute like BELPRI can supply."
And while Shoman calls on the government to take a stand, Chester Williams today told his commanders to support his successor, Deputy Compol Richard Rosado. He held what may be his last commanders meeting and he urged them not to backbite Rosado the way they did him:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Well, my thing to them was basically that I more than likely I will leave office. And, I told them, that they need to throw their support behind the person who is going to be appointed commissioner of police when I leave. I explained to them the importance of them supporting the new commissioner. We are a disciplined organization and whatever you have, if you have something personal against the person who is going to be appointed, you need to put that aside and focus on a professional responsibility, which is to work with the commissioner and making this country safe. The person who is going to be appointed, I, I, I believe that he is capable, he should be able to continue from where I'm leaving off, in enhancing the effectiveness of the police department and making this country safe. So they are pledged that they will support the person. And I do hope that they do as they see and I also said to them that the practice of them calling and briefing the media, when conference is over, that I hope that comes to an end. Confidentiality is extremely essential. Especially at our level, we cannot, if at the top of the department, we cannot keep certain things confidential, then what do we expect of those persons below us?"
"I also told them that the undermining must also stop, whoever is going to be the new commissioner, and they must work together because they have one common objectives, which is to make this country safe."
Jules Vasquez "When you took over in 2019, January 9th, Mr. Whylie, in his exact speech he referred to undermining, now you are referring to undermining, apparently it's endemic in the culture of the police department."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Look, I said, Jules, you are going to find that anywhere, so long as there are people who are ambitious, there's going to be undermining."
"And it's just a matter of us having to learn to live with it. If you allow the undermining to get the better part of you, then you're not, you're not going to achieve nothing. So I spent my time ignoring undermining and focus on my responsibility to Belizean people."
And in what may be one of his last acts as top cop, a number of "special promotions" came out of the Compol's office today for 9 constables and corporals.
And Compol Chester surely knows the pains of a young officer coming up. He started from the bottom - without a complete education - and built himself up to the Top Cop. Today he reflected in his early life of work - where he started out at 13 in a Ladyville bakery:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "You know, policing is all I know, other than baking bread. Because before becoming commissioner, police I worked as a delivery boy at a bakery. From there, I moved up to, to the mixer. Mixed the bread early in the morning, 3:00 o'lock, after going to the bakery and mix bread."
"And then from there I went to the oven. I became a baker, at age 16, I was the chief baker at the bakery. So I know a lot about baking bread and other pastries. Amd at age 17, I joined the ranks of the police police force then, and so that is all I know. I have certainly worked tirelessly over the years with a view to try and achieve what I have achieved so far. And, I can say to you that I have encountered many setbacks. Jules will tell you. In 2008, what happened to me. I went to hell and back. But I remained steadfast in what I wanted to do, and, I was able to go to law school against all odds, qualified myself, and returned.. And since I became the commissioner of police, there's a lot that I can say I'm proud of. And I was not able to achieve them alone. I have to give credit to my team. We, we work together. Even though at times there is backbiting. There is infighting, but that comes with any organization."
"You can't expect to have, a smooth sail through anything, especially when you have people behind you who are who are ambitious. There are always going to be those who will backbite. And so I learned to work with that and do not allow those things to hinder my path or what I have to do to keep this country safe."
"But we certainly did a lot. If you look right across from this building, you can see the Compstate office. I'm extremely proud of that achievement. There's several things I can list, but I will leave that for when the official day come."
"But one of the most things I'm proud of is the fact that we were able to to bring the murder count below 100 for two consecutive years."
"Again, those are many lives saved, right? And if it is that we see one legacy of, we would have done well, but we saved many, many lives, I can say."
And while the Compol is adept at self-congratulation - he's going to a Ministry of Constitution and Religious Affairs, Indigenous Affairs, and Transportation - where there wasn't even a full-time CEO - another was covering in the absence of one.
But, the compol is confident his skillset will be put to good use:
Jules Vasquez "The new area where you are rumored that you will be, it requires multiple specializations. Is that something that you take as a challenge? Because it requires a lot of legal specialization as well."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Well, the fact that I am a trained attorney, I that should be able to help me with some of the legal issues with the Constitution and, the indigenous peoples of your, are concerned. Those two certainly have a lot of legal implications. So, my legal skills will be able to help the ministry there. As it relates to traffic, police officers, we do traffic work as well. So I have a vast knowledge, in the field of traffic, that I also believe will be able to help the ministry, if I should go there."
And, after CEO, will the Compol make the move into politics, perhaps into a new constituency carved out of the oversized Stann Creek West? We asked him about it:
Jules Vasquez "When the redistricting exercise happens, everyone agrees that there will be a new Stann Creek constituency. That has to be as it's 10,000 voters. Do you see your ascension to your CEO post as a pathway to somebody being a political candidate, perhaps in a new Stan Creek constituency?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "Well, I cannot speak to what is the intention of the Prime minister, to put me at this as a CEO, other than maybe that he wants to have someone there who is going to get things done and, try to bring the ministry up to a certain level. But to answer your question, I do have aspirations. And so if it is political aspirations or other aspirations, I won't say but I do have aspirations. You take that how you want. And if or when the time comes, I will make my move."
And keeping it in Stann Creek West, the US Embassy issued a wanted notice on Friday for Gregory Roth, who they say was last seen in Placencia, and might have been going by the name Christopher. He was wanted for possession of child pornography. Today the ComPol said that he has since been captured.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police "The police in Placencia in conjunction with some of our specialized units worked to be able to locate and secure the detention of a fugitive who was wanted in the US. He is in police custody I believe and should be taken out of the country very shortly if not yet taken out. Again, we worked with our US counterparts and we do with other countries to be able to help them to secure persons who may be hiding in Belize or are wanted by the different police organizations across the world."
Email
Print
A fisherman was fatally shot in Dangriga yesterday morning inside his own yard. And it wasn't the first time 49 year old Charles Bradley Jr was targeted. According to his family, he wasn't a troublemaker, but those around him might have led him to his death, particularly his adopted son, who is serving time in prison for murder.
"When I was coming from church, I stopped at a neighbor before I came home and as I entered the lane there, a little young boy said, good morning miss, I sympathize with you. I said, for what, son? He said, they just shot your son over there. I said, can't. And then one of my church members came and met me and said it's true. They said the police got the message about 10 to 9 and I was coming here probably 10:30 so when I came here, everything was done. I couldn't go and see him, I saw him through the bushes there lying down on the ground and then the police asked me to go and sit until they finished investigating. Then I went and saw him and I asked if I could get his tennis and his watch and he had some money in his pocket and they gave it to me."
"I didn't believe it because I could have been the same one right there with him too, sitting down right there at that time and maybe I would get harmed too, depends who came for him. But that was a good man. He took care of my kids, he gave my kids money everyday for school. All the kids that pass, he gives them a dollar or two, pencil, books. When it's Christmas, we go and buy like $500 worth of gifts and every kid that passes, he takes care of all the kids. The man isn't a bad man. People around him are bad but he's not a bad person."
"Police investigation so far reveals that Bradley was his yard when two men passed on a motorcycle, one of whom fired shots in his direction, and those shots were what caused his fatal injuries. At this time police is looking for one individual, we have not been able to locate that person as yet."
And while police are looking for the suspect in that murder, they've charged one person for the murder of 21 year old Floyd McFadzean. We told you that on Thursday night, McFadzean had left home around 8:30 in the night, picked up some friends, and was then shot inside his vehicle on Cemetery Road. While he was killed, the three men inside his vehicle were all injured.
Turning back now to police matters, a viral video of a cop pistol whipping a man in Maya Center village has once again brought the police department under heavy public scrutiny.
The commissioner also agreed that police need more tools to de-escalate situations without the use of lethal force. Police will now embrace use of what's called a "pepper ball" gun.
A tourist was killed yesterday while snorkeling near Turneffe Atoll. 70 year old Jeffrey Le Beau was with in a tour group including his two sons. They were reported to be within a carefully marked area when the elderly visitor was run over by a speeding boat. The captain has since been detained. ComPol Williams gave us details.
And as you might have noticed in the news tonight, the Commissioner was the only one at today's press briefing. Usually, he's accompanied by Assistant Commissioner, Hilberto Romero - but Romero couldn't make it today; that's because he was lucky to escape unhurt when a cargo truck's wheel flew off and came hurtling at his vehicle on the highway.
There is a brand new Policy Research Institute at UB. Today the university of Belize launched BELPRI, a first of its kind which will utilize evidence-based work to influence and inform public policies to improve public policies. Jomarie Lanza was at the launch and here's her report.
"Most universities around the world have some sort of public policy institute that would harness the expertise at the university and use that to do research analysis that would impact on national policies like transportation, the economy. And in the case of BELPRI there hasn't been a multi thematic institute at UB. There are others, one in environment, for example. So what BELPRI will be doing is doing a list of priorities, research areas, doing rigorous research in an independent, objective way and developing these into policy papers and recommendations for government. Clearly, we will be talking to government units and departments from the very beginning, but the whole idea is that the recommendations would be taken up by government ministries and improve or even add to the set of policies we have in Belize today."
Dr. Assad Shoman, Historian, Belize's Agent to the ICJ
And Compol Chester surely knows the pains of a young officer coming up. He started from the bottom - without a complete education - and built himself up to the Top Cop. Today he reflected in his early life of work - where he started out at 13 in a Ladyville bakery:
And while the Compol is adept at self-congratulation - he's going to a Ministry of Constitution and Religious Affairs, Indigenous Affairs, and Transportation - where there wasn't even a full-time CEO - another was covering in the absence of one.
And keeping it in Stann Creek West, the US Embassy issued a wanted notice on Friday for Gregory Roth, who they say was last seen in Placencia, and might have been going by the name Christopher. He was wanted for possession of child pornography. Today the ComPol said that he has since been captured.
