The Belize government says it is disappointed with what it termed “the inaccurate reporting” by media house here regarding murders committed in the country last month.
In a statement the Ministry of National Security said that the media houses had reported earlier this week that “all murders reported in Belize for the month of June were gang-related.
The Ministry of National Security said the “media incorrectly cited the June 2019 Crime Analysis Report published by the Belize Crime Observatory (BCO)” which “provided a detailed breakdown of the location of the incidents…”.
“The media reports which claimed that the BCO stated that all murders for June were gang-related are incorrect and irresponsible and does no good for those who are the audience of these messages,” the statement said.
Police Commissioner Chester Williams, had earlier this week, describing the month of June as “shellacking” as it relates to murders, saying nonetheless an objective observer would “concede to the fact many of the murders in June were things that the police had no control over”.
The BCO said that up to June, 66 murders had been reported by the police and of that number, 18 were committed in the month of June alone.
Williams, speaking on a television programme, acknowledged that in the month of June “we took a shellacking. That is the truth.
“Last year June we had four murders, this year June we had 17. That is a significant increase. Again, any objective observer would concede to the fact many of the murders in June were things that the police had no control over. It was not a situation where the gang violence was rampant and was getting out of control.”
Williams said that the crimes that occurred in June, “more than 80 per cent of them were not committed by gang members or persons who we know to be gang members”.
In the statement, the Ministry of National Security said that the message that was aired on a number of these media houses “gave the impression that the law enforcement agencies had no control over the crime situation and that the gangs are in fact in control, which is far from the truth.
“The Ministry asks that in the future, if reference is made from the BCO data, that it is done verbatim and if there is a requirement for the reference to be used in a different context that it is done accurately.”
It said that the Police Commissioner was “well in order to refute the incorrect assertion made by a reporter, during an interview on Monday.
“It is unfortunate that this type of irresponsible journalism reaches regional audiences, and as a consequence, gave the impression of a lack of safety and security in Belize,” the Ministry of National Security added.
