Posted: Wednesday, October 29, 2025. 6:03 am CST.
By Breaking Belize News Staff (HP): Social violence anthropologist Dr. Herbert Gayle has long been one of the Caribbean’s most outspoken voices on the roots of violence, and his recent comments on domestic abuse in Belize echo concerns he raised more than a decade ago.
In his latest remarks, Dr. Gayle said regular police officers are often ill-equipped to handle domestic violence cases, warning that many have experienced violence themselves, leaving them emotionally unprepared to respond to victims with sensitivity.
“Male police don’t respond to these things because they themselves have been through it, quietly, a lot of them,” he told reporters.
He urged Belize to create a specialized unit within the police force, staffed by both men and women trained in community safety, social work, and trauma management, to properly address domestic and gender-based violence.
Revisiting Dr. Gayle’s 2010 Findings
Dr. Gayle’s recent warnings build upon his 2010 research report, “Male Social Participation and Violence in Urban Belize,” a landmark study published by the University of the West Indies that examined the social roots of violence in Belize at a time when the country’s homicide rate was soaring.
In that study, Gayle described Belize City as possibly the most dangerous place in the English-speaking Caribbean to raise a child, citing high exposure to violence and deep community trauma.
“We found that ninety-nine percent of all children we studied were traumatized by violence,” he said at the time, comparing the situation to Kingston, Jamaica.
When questioned by critics, Gayle clarified that his comparisons were between Belize City and Kingston, not the entire nation of Jamaica, emphasizing that Belize’s small population magnifies the social impact of violence.
“Belize City is small, and that magnifies all social impacts. Your population is so small that it is all of Belize that was compared to Kingston in the study,” he explained.
Gayle’s 2010 research revealed that more than half of Belize’s 700 murders between 2002 and 2009 occurred in the Belize District, concentrated in just six square miles of urban space, creating what he described as an “inescapable zone of trauma.”
He noted that while Belize’s overall homicide rate ranked third in the Caribbean at the time, the concentrated exposure to violence among children made its psychological impact uniquely severe.
“In a space of this size it is impossible to escape being traumatized,” the report stated.
Continuing the Call for Reform
Fifteen years later, Dr. Gayle’s message remains largely unchanged: social trauma breeds violence, and until Belize invests in psychological support, early intervention, and specialized policing, the cycle will continue.
He maintains that the key lies in education, social work, and trained crisis response, not just enforcement.
“The Belize Police Service needs to have a strong specialized unit that once the phone goes, they are there, where a man or woman can call and say, ‘I’m under pressure,’” he said.
With domestic and gender-based violence on the rise, Gayle’s warning still rings true: violence in Belize isn’t just about crime — it’s about trauma, and the urgent need to heal it.
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The post Expert says Belize must act now to break cycle of trauma, violence, and police unpreparedness appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
Posted: Wednesday, October 29, 2025. 6:03 am CST. By Breaking Belize News Staff (HP): Social violence anthropologist Dr. Herbert Gayle has long been one of the
The post Expert says Belize must act now to break cycle of trauma, violence, and police unpreparedness appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
