And while the unravelling of that case could bring down a cop who's made a lot of enemies in the streets, police have much bigger plans to bring crime under control in Belize City. Tomorrow, the Minister of State responsible for Police, Elodio Aragon and the Commissioner of Police, Allen Whylie will have a Press Conference to announce a major police operation targeting the southside which will roll out tomorrow. This comes out of strategy sessions held yesterday and today with the senior command and all senior officers. The meetings were held at the Queen Street and Raccoon Street police stations.
We understand that apart from this operation, coming out of these strategy session there will also be personnel adjustments. Reports say that includes bringing ACP Chester Williams back to the southside - not as a commander - but as mediator. According to unofficial reports, Senior Superintendent Marco Vidal will remain as southside commander, but Williams will be tasked to initiate or resume dialogue with the various gangs. Vidal had completely rejected this model when he first took command - saying that the Williams and Dianne Finnegan should fall in with the CYDP effort, or step out of the mediation business.
Considering the fact that Williams recently threatened Vidal with a lawsuit, it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Notably also, we understand the police department is now firmly under the ministerial purview of Minister of State Elodio Aragon. This is the result of a Cabinet directive earlier this week - when it appeared that the Minister Wilfred Elrington was working at cross purposes with his minister of state. Elrington - as we understand - is now mostly out of the picture, and Aragon has taken the reigns.
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