Representatives from all 24 members of the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police are currently in Belize and the 38th conference is being held right here for the first time. The conference aims to tackle the policing issues that plagued the region by sharing strategies and information.

Today the Minister of Home Affairs said the conference follows a particularly dangerous year for the Caribbean.

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"Extremely important, extremely timely. As you know, 2023 was a violent year all across the Caribbean and it was extremely important that this meeting take place, we are pleased of course to be hosting them here in beautiful Belize but no doubt over the next four days, very important deliberations and discussions and presentations happening and so it's extremely important and then of course thereafter we'll have a report."

Atlee Rodney, ComPol, Antigua & Barbuda/ President, ACCP
"The association has continuously been one of the most proactive associations when it comes to law enforcement in the Caribbean and this year with the theme that we've chosen, basically we want to strengthen our relationship. The Association has a very simple motto, united against crime, and during this week we just want to demonstrate that by sharing information, sharing best practices and basically working with each other all in an effort to make the Caribbean a safe place."

And according to Commissioner Rodney, priority is given to those crimes that are rampant throughout the Caribbean.

Atlee Rodney, ComPol, Antigua & Barbuda/ President, ACCP
"We basically look at what is happening, we do our research, as most persons know gun crimes is one of the biggest issues we have in the Caribbean so that takes top priority, in terms of other crimes that are happening, cybercrimes, we look at those things that are predominantly taking place in the Caribbean, we focus on them and see how we can work together, individually we try to assist each other by showing that if the problem is more predominant in one state, we provide some support and some of our expertise so that we can address it collectively especially when it comes to transnational crime, we see how we can improve our networking and sharing of intelligence, sharing of information to curtail the problems that we are facing."

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"We're all facing similar type issues in terms of the influx of illegal weapons into our country. Of course, Belize is more porous than the other Caribbean countries because we do have the borders, the illegal border crossing where guns come across, drugs come across and the Caribbean of course is not immune to that either, they do have issues at their ports of entry whereby illegal weapons and drugs enter their country and so that's one of the big issues, of course, gun violence, gang violence in certain parts of the Caribbean has been extremely high over the past year so those are some of the issues and of course transnational crime that will be addressed at this conference."

And Belize plays an important role, being a part of the Caribbean and Central America - something that our Commissioner of Police says can help to bridge the gap between the two regions.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"We will be doing a presentation and our presentation will focus on how we can tie the Caribbean and Central American regions together. As you know, I am the president of Central American Commission, and I'm also the second Vice President of this association so I am a member, I'm in the executive of both commissions so as the president of one commission and the second Vice President of this one, I see myself as that conduit that can bring the two regions together so we'll be focusing on the similarity in the types of crimes that occur in both regions and to show how if we collaborate by bringing both regions together, we can achieve much more in fighting crime."

The conference will last for four days.

More than 117,000 people were murdered in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2023. St Kitts and Nevis and Jamaica ranked first and second respectively as the countries with the highest homicide rate in the region.