A string of violent incidents, including multiple shootings reported overnight, is once again triggering worries about public safety and the root causes of crime in Belize. While the government has pointed to measures such as the State of Emergency as helping to suppress gang-related violence, Prime Minister John Briceño says law enforcement alone cannot solve the problem. According to the Prime Minister, many of today’s acts of violence stem from deeper social issues, including a breakdown in discipline at home and within communities. Briceño argues that while police can respond to crime, parents and families must play a greater role in shaping the next generation before conflicts escalate into violence.
Prime Minister John Briceño
“One murder is one too much, and we are always concerned about it. And we’ve been fighting and doing our very best to be able to keep that as best as possible under control. We had the SOE, I think has been successful. Most of it has calm down but like this now is between individuals and sometimes that’s difficult to control. You could put a policeman in every corner but the minute you turn, somebody if you want to give trouble, and that’s what’s happening. I think what’s important – I think, I’ve been saying this for a long time, that I don’t think we’re as good parents as we were a few generations ago. I always use this example that when I was a kid, I called a lady white roach just mischief and my father found out about it and when I got home he gave me a whipping and said, “Don’t do that.” Today, when you call out a child to a parent they want to get upset with you and so we have lost that kind of discipline within our communities and that’s what’s happened as then they become adults. And so maybe Mia Mottley is into something when she said that setting up parenting clubs to be able to help families to learn about parenting and what all it requires. And that it really – and I know it’s a cliché, it takes a village to grow a child. It take – and I think that was success – that is the success when we were growing up, that the entire… You couldn’t do anything out there because by the time you get home your parents know, and you wa get into trouble.”
The State of Emergency is set to expire on Monday, June 8. As of today, only thirty men have been arrested under SOE regulations.
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