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Assistant Commissioner of Police, Elodio Aragon, Jr.
"Operation Jaguar was planned and launched in the early hours of Monday 17th May 2010 as a direct response to the surge of crime and gun related violence that plagues the City of Belize."

Over 100 security personnel have been deployed and in a week the operation has amassed some impressive statistics

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Elodio Aragon, Jr.
"The ongoing Jaguar Operation has seen over 621 persons stopped and searched, 25 houses searched over 25 vehicles searched and have made 7 arrests, seized 2 kilos of suspected cocaine, a total of 7.1 grams of crack cocaine and 995.7 grams of cannabis. Furthermore since the inception of the operation we have seen a substantial decrease of gun related violence. In this operation Jaguar, we have not recovered any firearms as such from this specific operation. That does not mean to say that we are not getting the job done."

And getting the job done means....

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Elodio Aragon, Jr.
"This Operation was geared like I mentioned before, working to restore the confidence, ensuring we have high visibility of police and security personnel on the ground and to deal with persons who are bent on committing criminal acts and dealing with well known criminals to the police."

Maintaining that high visibility has a cost and a consequence on the deployment of the BDF who form about 66% of the security forces deployed for operation Jaguar:

Lt. Col. David Jones
"Because the BDF is very flexible we can move men from different locations and still maintain our territorial integrity. With the primary function that we have to maintain our borders, we are not taking any resources from there. We are always flexible to use men that are close by to respond to any situation. So it doesn't take away resources from elsewhere."

But eventually having a company of soldiers here on the streets rather than in the jungles must take a toll because this operation will continue:

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Elodio Aragon, Jr.
"Operation Jaguar will be sustained as long as it is deemed necessary by the National Security Council."

As long as it is deemed necessary - and that is until crime numbers go down:

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Elodio Aragon, Jr.
"I think to a large extent that will be dictated by the incidents of reported crime and the kind of crime that we see taking place in the Southside."

Lt. Col. David Jones
"We are looking at the major crimes, murders and gun related incidents. So far since this operation has started we've had no injuries that has been related to gun violence and that is our main objective to reduce murders, high criminal activity that is gun related within the high crime area in Belize City."

But how long is that - and what will it mean for the BDF?

Jules Vasquez
"You have bring Operation Thunder all those years ago is when BDF first came on the streets and they haven't left yet. I am saying are you concerned from a BDF perspective that increasingly we are domesticating the responsibility of the BDF, or alternately militarizing the streets."

Lt. Col. David Jones
"It is a concern for us, primarily because it's not our primary function. However we are in times that there needs to be different measures to address certain situations. When the solution does come up to take us off the streets, that will depend on strategy. But it will be a big problem if we reached the scenario whereby we need to keep the BDF on the streets which maybe is the perception now and it will definitely be a concern. It is a concern for the soldiers, it's also a concern for the public that this is the direction Belize is going to, which, personally, as a soldier, I would not like to see that happen."

Fact is this deployment may be comforting to some but it is by no means a solution, this is just one very big band aid

Lt. Col. David Jones
"This operation that we are on is not the solution to the crime situation in the country. There are a lot of issues that needs to be addressed as well. But we as the security forces are doing our part as much to be part of a national strategy."

According to ACP Aragon, all house searches are conducted with warrants. And Jones clarified that while all the soldiers participating have been sworn in as special constables, indeed they have no police-specific training, and that is why the regular police force continues to take the lead in arrests and dealing with criminals with the soldiers only there as backups.