Yes Chris, It is true I do not believe that police abuse will solve the problem. We have made sure that we have a social problem by not trying to expand economic opportunities beyond Tourism, a hard concept I must admit, but, until something is done to expand our economy this problem will exist. Those who think that extreme police presence and hard tactics will succeed only need to look at history to see that it does not work. Everyone must have respect for the police and it must be earned. The head in the sand mentality will not solve the problem. Social programs of which we have none, combined with honest police and courts that dispense justice will. We dont have any of those. Welcome to San Police.
Civil rights abuses have never solved any crimes and never will. I pity those of you who are so willing to give away your rights. At the end of the day you wont have any rights at all. We must follow our constitution which is abused daily. I have lobbied for years for the correct amount of police and structural changes in the force as well as an expended economic program creating non tourism jobs. I started this long before our current epidemic because I could see it coming like a locomotive barreling down the track. What have you done?

Mike, I've obviously done just as much as you because it's clearly not enough.

Chris the point is we have to do some things differently as what we have been doing for years does not work as we can now see. We have one of the highest ration of police to citizens ratio anywhere and additional recruits do not seem to alter the situation in any way. Belize has about 5 police per thousand persons. The US has about 2.3 police per thousand (and the highest incarceration rate in the world)and Canada has about 2 police per thousand. US and Canada have conviction rates of 70% and higher. We have 5 police per thousand and a conviction rate in single digits. To me this indicates a systemic problem. If we had the same per person police ration as the US we could pay them twice as much as we currently do.
I will go so far as to say our law enforcement model is seriously flawed. We have all these disjointed Units and every criminal crisis we make a new unit but none are named, Homicide, Sexual Offenses, Robbery, Crimes Against Children. We need to remodel the police department using a different model than what we have. We need to look at others to see what is working for them. We can not afford to wallow in our own ignorance for much longer.
The crime situation is a reflection of a general moral decay in our society and we must have police that are above reproach and use our money in an efficient way and treat us all with the same respect they wish to receive from us. If you treat a man like an animal he will become one. If you treat him professionally and with respect even though he may be ACCUSSED of a crime he may also learn to have respect for law officers and thus the law they represent.
WE MUST CREATE JOBS. I have had too many young black men on San Pedro come and tell me "Mister Mike, they wont even give us a chance, no one will give us a job and the police pick us up and beat us for nothing." Where does this road lead?

There are families here who have been in the trade for years and generations and many people have known who they are. I always wonder why , when the people are known, nothing is done to stop them. They threaten local people to be quiet because of fear of retaliation whether it be physical or verbal or political.
It takes an outside force who does not know the players or is not related to them to actual come in and objectively make an arrest. 98% of the criminals I know say they are innocent and it helps no one to believe them. They will all have their day in court and I hope they are treated fairly and then get a maximum sentence.
Deterence will only happen if the law comes down heavily on these people. They are destroying their kids and friends kids and the community.

I was pleasantly surprised to read in the S P Sun - under the police report - that in addition to the many arrests for small amount of ganja - there were at least three busts for people with large amounts and they were listed as being charged as drug dealers. HOORAY!

Its totally pointless though, because once this round of dealers is taken off the island, others will come to replace them Ad nauseam. Most drug violence in Latin America is associated with Marijuana. Tens of thousands of people are murdered throughout this part of the world for a plant that causes little to no harm. The only solution to the problem is legalization/decriminalization. Plus we can use all the money saved in fighting this pointless, losing battle to help educate the poor and create jobs...which is the only real long term solution to the other crime problems that aren't associated with "drugs" (robberies, theft, etc)

These social ills weren't created overnight, so don't expect a short term solution.

Belize is on the path to decriminalize marijuana. I doubt if it will have any effect on violent crime, the type we are experiencing. The Plyadors are not walking the beach looking for a joint to float up.

I agree Uncle Buck. Sure the drug dealers will turn to another drug to push most likely, but weed is the one with real demand. Once people stop getting their weed from the drug dealers, that trade will dry up by a large margin I think. I do think it would help greatly to have more jobs for these people instead of turning to drug dealing though.

Anyone who thinks the big money and the violence accompanying it is a result of weed, is living in the sixties.
Dealing in drugs is kind of like the retaraunt business. Selling pot is like flipping burgers at McDonalds for minimum wage. What you want is to own a five star restaurant selling steak tartare from Kobe beef at a couple hundred dollars a plate.

No, you are wrong. A huge percentage of money made from selling illegal drugs in Belize and Latin America is from weed. Your example is accurate in a way, but its like being the owner of McDonald -vs- the owner of five star restaurant. Both are good, but the big money is in what the average man wants and can afford. Also the majority of Belizeans can't afford a steak tartar. I lived and worked in San pedro for years, and spent ALOT of time in San pedrito...the cash crop is Weed. I too was surprised to find such a benign plant was behind alot of this violence, but it's true. Here's a quote from an article about the Mexico drug wars...

It is true that gangs make considerable amounts of money selling marijuana. According to some government estimates, Mexican drug cartels make more than 60 percent of their profits from marijuana alone

Although the figures vary depending on the study, and I picked the largest number to support my case, but the fact remains it's a huge driver in the Latin American drug war, and Belize especially with the lower income and a cultural proclivity towards weed.