The police in Belize are not ruling out the possibility of instituting a state of emergency (SOE) to address the upsurge of murders in the country.

This is according to Police Commissioner Chester Williams who noted that there are persons hell-bent on terrorizing their communities.

The police have already been directed to take certain actions to quell feuds, particularly among warring gangs, he said adding that he will be engaging the relevant minister in discussions on “what course of actions will be taken against those groups causing the flare-ups”.

The commissioner said anything is on the table when questioned on whether a state of emergency is being considered.

“I can tell you that the crowd from the Antelope Extension, I am sick and tired of them. The truth is they have not felt the wrath of the SOE and perhaps that is the reason they are behaving the way they are. The past three murders in the city have been committed by them. So, something drastically needs to be done for them to get the message Williams said.”

There are three different groups in the Antelope Extension Area, and “there is extremely high tension among them and as I have always said there are some of these young men that certainly don’t want anything good in life,” stated the top cop.

“We do several programs to try and work with them. We talk with them and do interventions with them. We do everything possible to try and get them to understand that the lifestyle they are living is not good for them, is not good for society, the Police Commissioner said.

He further noted that it is not impossible for law enforcement to police these areas.

“We just can’t police everybody. I can’t say we are going to tag police to every gang member. I don’t have the manpower. It is human beings and at the end of the day, while we do have police in the area, you would know that the criminals monitor the police. The police have to move around.”