2017 began with a surge of gun violence - resulting in six people being murdered in the first 72 hours of the year. Since then, police and government have been working on a way to combat the rise in firearm related crime, and prevent more murders from taking place. Aragon told us how much progress has been made since the beginning of the year, and when we can expect to see it implemented.
Alex Courtenay, 7News
"Minister, at the beginning of the year, you know we had this murder spree that started out and you mentioned in an interview that you, the Ministry and the Police Departments are working on a strategy to combat this and ensure that this trend doesn't continue throughout the year. How much progress has been made and when we can expect to you know, here and announcement about it?"
Hon. Elodio Aragon - Minister of State, Home Affairs
"Well we are looking towards the end of February where we will present that plan to the public. That plan is a pinpoint plan that will address the two main issues that are of interest to the government that is impacting upon crime in our country. And I think that has to do with gangs, and gun related crime and violence. Those are the two areas that we will focus on and of course if we're talking about gangs and gun related crime, we're talking about firearms, and therefore the unit here, the firearms unit here at the lab will play a key role to assist on ensuring that the police department has the necessary forensic evidence to deal and tackle with the issues that surround these two major problems when of Belize, when it comes to crime."
Email
Print