The Gang Suppression Unit is a special unit of the

Belize Police Department Law enforcement in Belize is conducted by the Belize Police Department, the country’s national police force. It is headed by a Commissioner and is headquartered in Belmopan. History The Belize Police Department is descended from the British H ...

, formed in 2010.

History

Dean Barrow Dean Oliver Barrow, SC PC (born March 2, 1951) is a politician from Belize who served as the fourth prime minister of Belize from 2008 until 2020 and as leader of Belize's United Democratic Party. An attorney by profession, Barrow served a ...

announced the formation of the Gang Suppression Unit as a special unit of the

in April 2010, in response to the rising crime rate in Belize which he said had reached crisis proportions. It was part of a larger initiative he dubbed "RESTORE Belize", an acronym for "Re-Establish Security Through Outreach Rehabilitation and Education". The unit's first head was intended to be John Burns Jr., a

Belizean American Belizean Americans are Americans who are of Belizean ancestry. These ancestors might be from Belize or of its diaspora. Diaspora About one out of every three Belizeans now live overseas and outside of Belize; the majority have migrated to Angl ...

and former

Boston Police Department The Boston Police Department (BPD) is the primary law enforcement agency of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1854, the BPD is the oldest municipal police department in the United States. It is also the 20th largest law enforce ...

member. In June, Minister of Police and Public Safety Douglas Singh announced that retired police chief

William J. Bratton William Joseph Bratton CBE (born October 6, 1947) is an American businessman and former law enforcement officer who served two non-consecutive tenures as the New York City Police Commissioner (1994–1996 and 2014–2016) and currently one of o ...

of the

Los Angeles Police Department The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

would also play a role. Assistant Superintendent Marco Vidal was named the commander of the new unit; in media interviews soon after, he spoke out in support of a government bill to permit police to hold people in

preventive detention Preventive detention is an imprisonment that is putatively justified for non- punitive purposes, most often to prevent further criminal acts. Preventive detention sometimes involves the detention of a convicted criminal who has served their sente ...

for up to 21 days. In 2011 and 2012, the GSU was involved in a number of controversial raids. In March 2011, the nephew of PUP supporter Yolanda Schakron was delivering goods to a wake for purported gang leader Charles Woodeye; he got caught up in a sweep conducted by police officers who had been trailing the funeral march, and one of them broke his arm with a baseball bat. Then in February 2012, a group of men invaded a home on Dean Street and beat its residents with bats and clubs, leaving four injured, while soon after, a group of men at Taylor's Alley were also beaten. Commander Marco Vidal initially attempted to deny involvement of his officers, but PM Barrow stated that he believed the GSU was involved. There were various responses to the controversies. Taylor's Alley residents rejected the government's apology. The ''

Belize Times ''The Belize Times'' is a Belizean newspaper published once a week and the official organ of the People's United Party (PUP). It was established in 1956 and sells for BZ$1 Its offices are located at the PUP's Belize City headquarters at 3 Queen S ...

'' accused the GSU of being a rogue unit of the United Democratic Party. One plank of the

People's United Party The People's United Party (, PUP) is one of two major political parties in Belize. It is currently the governing party of Belize after success in the 2025 Belizean general election, winning a majority of 26 seats out of 31 in the Belizean Hou ...

platform in the

2012 elections * 2012 United Nations Security Council election Africa Egypt * 2012 Egyptian presidential election Mali * 2012 Malian presidential election * 2012 Malian parliamentary election Senegal * 2012 Senegalese presidential election * 2012 Senegalese p ...

was the disbandment of the GSU in favour of increased emphasis on

neighbourhood watch A neighborhood watch or neighbourhood watch (see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also called a crime watch or neighbourhood crime watch, is an organized group of civilians devoted to crime a ...

groups and traditional police patrols. Despite the controversies, in April after the elections Minister of National Security

John Saldivar John Saldivar is a Mexican-American fashion designer originally from Monterrey, Mexico. Collection John Saldivar began his fashion career in 2001 while apprenticing with Oscar de la Renta and his design team. Through de la Renta, Saldivar met A ...

expressed his support for the GSU. Less than a month later, the GSU conducted another controversial raid, this time on the

Orange Walk Town Orange Walk is the fourth largest town in Belize, with a population of about 13,400 (Official Release of the Main Findings of the 2010 Population and Housing Census). It is the capital of the Orange Walk District. Orange Walk Town is located on ...

home of

McAfee McAfee Corp. ( ), formerly known as McAfee Associates, Inc. from 1987 to 1997 and 2004 to 2014, Network Associates Inc. from 1997 to 2004, and Intel Security Group from 2014 to 2017, is an American proprietary software company focused on online ...

computer security company founder

John McAfee John David McAfee ( ; 18 September 1945 – 23 June 2021) was a British and American computer programmer, businessman, and two-time presidential candidate who unsuccessfully sought the Libertarian Party (United States), Libertarian Party nominat ...

. The GSU killed his dog, confiscated his passport, and arrested him on weapons charges. McAfee maintained that the charges were false and that the raid was retaliation for his refusal to donate money to a UDP politician.

References

{{reflist, 2 2010 establishments in Belize Law enforcement in Belize Government agencies established in 2010