Posted: Wednesday, July 9, 2025. 8:29 pm CST.
By Aaron Humes: This afternoon, Commissioner of Police Dr. Richard Rosado told reporters that, at this point, not much is known for certain regarding a confrontation between police officers and civilians, this time in the village of Paraiso, Corozal District, on Tuesday night.
“…at approximately 7 p.m., police officers attached to Corozal Police Formation were escorting a complainant to the police station when their attention was drawn to a male person who was driving a motorcycle with no headlight illuminated, and the person was also not wearing a helmet. Police sought to stop the individual; however, he refused to stop. Police then followed the individual to an area and upon detaining him and seeking to leave the location, a group of individuals, some of whom were armed with bottles, surrounded the Police mobile, thereby preventing the Police from leaving,” he reported at a press briefing, adding that the group was still obstructing officers when the Quick Response Team arrived in response to their fellow officers requesting assistance. From there, he said, the situation escalated with multiple injuries reported on both sides.
It is alleged that the arrest centered on an issue of domestic violence to which police were responding; family members say they went to find out the status of the individual that police detained and the situation got out of hand with at least one elderly family member caught up in it.
According to Commissioner Rosado, he faulted at least one of the officers for behaviour “inconsistent with the standard expected from our police officers,” from the video made available to him, adding that the Department maintains a zero-tolerance policy for police brutality. The parallel criminal and disciplinary investigations, which are now underway, will establish exactly what happened and he reiterated that any officers found to have broken Department policy and/or the law would face charges on either or both scores.
“I want to reaffirm our commitment to the principle of community policing, which emphasizes de-escalation, dialogue and mutual respect. These recent incidents that have transpired have made us realize that there is a need for us to implement or reinforce these values, which would require that we do additional training…” the Commissioner said. Action would be “decisive”, thorough and quick, he added and the use of force must be justified in each and every case.
At the same time, however, the Commissioner contends that “recent assaults on police officers, the resistance of lawful arrest, undermine the community’s safety and the rule of law. While all citizens have rights, I want to caution them about violent confrontation against the police, because violent confrontation against the police is not justified. We want to implore the public to comply during the lawful police action, and I also want to remind the public that their grievances should be directed through the proper channels and not in confrontation with the police.”
A total of 11 persons including four police officers suffered varying degrees of injury, and seven of those are officially in police custody pending investigation.
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The post Commissioner of Police identifies some failings in Paraiso confrontation; calls on community to act with care, not confrontation appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
Posted: Wednesday, July 9, 2025. 8:29 pm CST. By Aaron Humes: This afternoon, Commissioner of Police Dr. Richard Rosado told reporters that, at this point, not
The post Commissioner of Police identifies some failings in Paraiso confrontation; calls on community to act with care, not confrontation appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
