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Mediator Says Southside Needs Chester
posted (April 5, 2017)

And while there are changes all around, those in the Southside will be the most closely watched.  Commander Chester Williams had multiple programs going, from sports tournaments, to mentoring programs, to community days, and regular mediation between rival gangs.  

In fact, when we were at the police station today, one of those mediation sessions set up by ACP Williams had just ended. Counsellor Dianne Finnegan who participated in the mediation told us that in order to keep any semblance of peace - the Southside needs the input of Chester Williams:…

Dianne Finnegan - Mediator
"I don't want to really beat down what the system is trying to do to curb all the corruption and the recklessness that is happening. My thing is that Chester is doing a great job within his space. The amount of initiatives that he has taken on and has accomplished since he's been in office; I can't understand why you would not compliment that and leave him where he is. Let me just give you a couple examples, when Chester called me to assist it was really to do one session with the gangs. Instantly I realized this is something I want to be a part of because of the fact that I see where these guys are trying. They are making that extra effort based on the feedback that they are getting from Chester in order to calm things down and like what the reality is that even though you may talk to a group of them, there is someone within the circle who is going to go out of line and do the opposite of what ought to be done. The attempts to get these kids off the street, these minors off the streets after certain hours - it's not just about them getting involved in crime but they become targets, they are at risk for being out of their house after certain hours. So what he did? He went all around that and decided you know what, let’s get these kids together in a mentoring session where every Saturday we meet with these kids; one hundred of them and we have the University of Belize, we have CRD, the Department of Youth, the Youth Apprenticeship Programme, everybody. The Police Department from the Southside, everybody is coming together - we meet every Saturday and he has really lobbied and done a lot to see this come off and its working; so why move what is positive to bring in place something new that I don't know what is going to be the outcome of that."

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