The Gang Suppression Unit is a special unit of the Belize Police Department, formed in 2010.
Law enforcement in Belize is conducted by the Belize Police Department headed by a Commissioner and headquartered in Belize City.
The Gang Suppression Unit is a special unit of the Belize Police Department, formed in 2010.
Law enforcement in Belize is conducted by the Belize Police Department headed by a Commissioner and headquartered in Belize City.
PM Dean Barrow announced the formation of the Gang Suppression Unit as a special unit of the Belize Police Department in April 2010, in response to the rising crime rate in Belize which he said had reached crisis proportions. It was part of a larger initiative he dubbed "RESTORE Belize", an acronym for "Re-Establish Security Through Outreach Rehabilitation and Education". The unit's first head was intended to be John Burns Jr., a Belizean American and former Boston Police Department member. [1] In June, Minister of Police and Public Safety Douglas Singh announced that retired police chief William J. Bratton of the Los Angeles Police Department would also play a role. [2] Assistant Superintendent Marco Vidal was named the commander of the new unit; in media interviews soon after, he spoke out in support of a government bill to permit police to hold people in preventive detention for up to 21 days. [3]
Dean Oliver Barrow is a Belizean politician who has been Prime Minister of Belize since 2008. He is also the leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP) since 1998. An attorney by trade, he served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1998 and was Leader of the Opposition from 1998 until the UDP won the February 2008 election. Barrow started his first term as Prime Minister after victory in the 2008 election. He started his second term after the UDP again won an election on 7 March 2012. He started his third term when the UDP won again on 4 November, 2015.
The Boston Police Department (BPD), dating back to 1838, holds the primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the American city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest police department in the United States. The BPD is also the 20th largest law enforcement agency in the country and the largest in New England.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,988 officers and 2,869 civilian staff, it is the third-largest municipal police department in the United States, after the Chicago Police Department and the New York City Police Department. The department operates in an area of 498 square miles (1,290 km2) and a population of 4,030,904 people.
In 2011 and 2012, the GSU was involved in a number of controversial raids. In March 2011, the nephew of PUP supporter Yolanda Schakron was delivering goods to a wake for purported gang leader Charles Woodeye; he got caught up in a sweep conducted by police officers who had been trailing the funeral march, and one of them broke his arm with a baseball bat. [4] Then in February 2012, a group of men invaded a home on Dean Street and beat its residents with bats and clubs, leaving four injured, while soon after, a group of men at Taylor's Alley were also beaten. Commander Marco Vidal initially attempted to deny involvement of his officers, but PM Barrow stated that he believed the GSU was involved. [5]
Edmee Yolanda Schakron-Rodríguez is a Belizean activist and People's United Party candidate, best known as the aunt of murder victim Chris Galvez and a founder and president of Belizeans For Justice. Schakron was briefly the PUP standard bearer for the Lake Independence House constituency in 2012, but her candidacy was disallowed due to her dual citizenship at the time in Belize and the United States, after which she renounced U.S. citizenship. Schakron was the unsuccessful PUP nominee for Mayor of Belize City in 2015.
There were various responses to the controversies. Taylor's Alley residents rejected the government's apology. [6] The Belize Times accused the GSU of being a rogue unit of the United Democratic Party. [7] One plank of the People's United Party platform in the 2012 elections was the disbandment of the GSU in favour of increased emphasis on neighbourhood watch groups and traditional police patrols. [8] Despite the controversies, in April after the elections Minister of National Security John Saldivar expressed his support for the GSU. [9] Less than a month later, the GSU conducted another controversial raid, this time on the Orange Walk Town home of McAfee computer security company founder John McAfee. The GSU killed his dog, confiscated his passport, and arrested him on weapons charges. McAfee maintained that the charges were false and that the raid was retaliation for his refusal to donate money to a UDP politician. [10]
The United Democratic Party (UDP) is one of the two major political parties in Belize. It is the ruling party, having won the 2008, 2012 and 2015 general elections. A centre-right conservative party, the UDP is led by Prime Minister of Belize Dean Barrow.
The People's United Party (PUP) is one of two major political parties in Belize. It is currently the main opposition party with 12 of 31 seats in the House of Representatives. It is a centre-left Christian democratic party. The party leader is Johnny Briceño, who currently serves as Belize's Leader of the Opposition.
A neighborhood watch or neighbourhood watch, also called a crime watch or neighbourhood crime watch, is an organized group of civilians devoted to crime and vandalism prevention within a neighborhood.
Politics of Belize takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, whereby Queen Elizabeth II serves as head of state and the prime minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of Belize.
John David McAfee is a British-American computer programmer and businessman. He founded the software company McAfee Associates in 1987 and ran it until 1994, when he resigned from the company. McAfee Associates achieved early success as the creators of McAfee, the first commercial antivirus software, and the business now produces a range of enterprise security software. The company was purchased by Intel in 2011 and spun back out in 2017 with TPG Capital owning a majority stake, though the software has always borne the McAfee brand name. McAfee's wealth peaked in 2007 at $100 million, before his investments plummeted in the global financial crisis that began that year.
Wilfred Peter "Sedi" Elrington is a Belizean politician who has been the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belize since 2008.
Elvin Penner is a Belizean politician who served in the House of Representatives from 2008 to 2015 representing the Cayo North East constituency. He is a member of the United Democratic Party. Penner was the first Belizean Mennonite elected to national office.
Doug Singh is a Belizean politician and a member of the United Democratic Party. He is the former Minister of Police and Public Security in Prime Minister Dean Barrow's cabinet 2010.
Bernard Quentin Augustus Pitts CBE, often known by his initials as B. Q. Pitts, is a Belizean politician and a member of the United Democratic Party of Belize.
The Attorney-General of Belize is a cabinet-level official who acts as the principal legal adviser to the government of Belize.
Lutchman Sooknandan is a Guyanese lawyer. He previously served as Belize's Director of Public Prosecutions, practices law privately at Sooknandan's Law Firm, and serves as Guyana's honorary consul in Belize.
Cheryl-Lynn Branker-Taitt Vidal is a Trinidadian lawyer, who serves as Belize's Director of Public Prosecutions.
The Hugh Wooding Law School (HWLS) is a law school in Trinidad and Tobago.
Elson Kaseke (1967–2011) was a Zimbabwean lawyer. A long-time resident of Belize, he served that country in a variety of capacities including as a legal draftsman and as Solicitor-General before becoming an attorney in private practice there.
Chester Williams is the Commissioner of Belize and highest police officer of the Belize Police Department. His rapid rise through the ranks of the police was interrupted by fellow officers' allegations that he had committed a murder. The government of Belize pursued a dubious disciplinary action against him despite the objections of the Solicitor-General, and he was reduced in rank for six months. Williams was eventually reinstated, but the accusations continued to dog his career until it was revealed that the man he had allegedly murdered was actually alive and well in the United States, a fact that had been known to his superiors for some time. Thus vindicated, Williams took up a new post as Officer Commanding the Cayo District Police, but the following month announced that he would be taking study leave in order to attend law school.
Lee Mark Chang is a Belizean politician and restaurateur. A member of the United Democratic Party, he was the first ethnic Chinese person to hold the post of President of the Senate of Belize.
Edward Robert Broaster is a Belizean police officer and writer.
Eric Chang is a Belizean politician.
Rodwell Roosevelt Adlai Williams is a Belizean lawyer. He is a name partner, along with Prime Minister of Belize and United Democratic Party leader Dean Barrow, in the Belize City law firm Barrow & Williams.
General elections were held in Belize on 4 November 2015 to elect members of the House of Representatives. On 28 September 2015 Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced that he had advised the Governor-General to dissolve the National Assembly and to fix Wednesday 4 November 2015 as the date for the next general elections.