Police define the limited State of Emergency 

Police Commissioner Dr. Richard Rosado says the decision to implement a limited State of Emergency in parts of Belize City and sections of the rural Belize District was not taken lightly.  He says, however, that it was necessary following a careful assessment of the country’s current security situation.  Speaking at a press conference held today at the Queen Street Police Station, Dr. Rosado confirmed that nine men from Belize City have since been detained under the SOE and remanded to the Belize Central Prison as part of ongoing security operations. He explained that law enforcement authorities spent considerable time reviewing intelligence and crime patterns before recommending the measure.  The State of Emergency was formally signed and brought into effect on Friday, May 8, by Governor-General Dame Froyla Tzalam.

Dr. Richard Rosado, Commissioner of Police: “I want to highlight the decision was not made lightly, for the state of emergency. But we believe that it was absolutely necessary based on the intelligence that we have gathered and on the ground assessment that had indicated an imminent danger to life and property hence the recommendation was made and it was subsequently declared. I can assure the law abiding citizens that they have nothing to worry about in reference to the state of emergency as the state of emergency is targeted and it’s specific to certain individuals and it does not affect the law abiding citizens in any way. We had our initial assessment, our initial discussion with our commander and my deputy and our legal advisors to discuss how we will implement that. And Mr. Jones, his office, will be issuing a guidance in terms of which units specifically will be tasked to enforce the state of emergency regulation and that is the GI3 specifically. So the regular units or the uniform units will not be specific or directly engaged in the implementation of the state of emergency. We refer to it as a limited state of emergency to address an extraordinary circumstances. If the need arises, and it’s a continuous assessment that we are doing on the situation on the ground, and based on the assessment on the ground there may be additional individuals.”

Police Legal Adviser Deputy Police Commissioner Bart Jones also addressed the media, explaining that this particular SOE was designed specifically for the current security environment and targeted only at areas identified as high risk. Jones said the declaration was carefully structured to allow law enforcement to respond to immediate threats while limiting the scope of the emergency powers to affected communities.

Bart Jones, Deputy Commissioner of Police: “Based on prior intelligence, persons will be detained and questioned. And if the need arises for them to be detained beyond the normal questioning, then detention orders would be issued in respect to them. So it is not a cart blanche or will not be operated as a cart blanche wholesale detention of persons but based on intelligence, based on interviews, based on current investigations. Many of the persons who are currently detained are not only in relation to gang offenses but are also suspects in some of the recent and earlier this year shooting incidents and murders. So it is more targeted, more focused than we have done it before. You will note and people will say, if the recent shootings are in Belize City why do other areas of the Belize Rural were included ? And hat is because based on our intelligence there are operatives or persons within the Belize City area who from time to time visit or would then resort to these particular areas that are spelled out in the regulation. So the idea why some of these areas will not be specifically targeted operationally it is just so that if these persons do leave from Belize City, those that we are concerned with, that we know that these based on intelligence they traverse these other villages in the rural areas. So it is not to say that some of the areas or all areas so declared are problematic, so to speak, it is just that there are some nexus through persons who traversed those particular areas.”

Under the proclamation, the SOE covers sections of the Southside and Northside of Belize City, along with areas including Ladyville, Burrell Boom, Fresh Pond, Buttercup Estates, Bermudian Landing, Lemonal, Isabella Bank, Rancho Dolores, and Double Head Cabbage. 

Officials maintain that the emergency powers are targeted and temporary, with the proclamation remaining in force for up to one month unless extended by the National Assembly.