Ex-Police Commissioner Weighs in on Meighan’s Killing

Earlier this week, we brought you the story of Tyrone Meighan, a well-known street figure, gunned down in broad daylight. Tonight, former Police Commissioner Chester Williams is speaking out. He’s reflecting on his time working closely with the Meighan family during his years in law enforcement. Williams says he’s had countless run-ins with the brothers, both as Eastern Division Commander and later as head of the Belize Police Department. And while he understands the harsh realities of the streets, he says his heart goes out to Tyrone’s mother.

 

Chester Williams, Former Commissioner of Police

 ”May I make it categorically and emphatically clear, I favored none of the groups in Belize City. I worked with every one of them the same way, and I have always tried my utmost best whether in my capacity as OCED then or as commissioner of police to do as best as I can to preserve the lives of our young men on our streets. And if that required me to work over time with them in providing guidance and mentorship to them, I do that. At the end of the day, we’re speaking about saving lives, and I believe that as a society we should all have that same goal to try as best as we can to save our young people. I would like to see that you  would take one of these streets figures’ son under your wings and maybe give him as Channel Seven scholarship to go to school, or even Channel Five, you know, to show that even as members of the media, you’re doing your best. Because while the father figures of these ones who are growing up may have lost their way we can still do what we can to capture the younger ones. So for us to maybe take the son or the daughter of one of these figures under our wings and give them a scholarship to go to school, that goes a very long way. So, it’s something that I like the media to think about. Each media house can take one, and then we see how we go from there. I do empathize with his mother and his family as I would normally do when any of the young men are killed. You know, at the end of the day, you’ll realize that we work so much with these young men that we feel that they’re a part of us. When they are killed, we feel it because we have spent so much time with them. We have invested time and energy and money into them. And so, when they die, you know, on our streets, it’s really hard for us. Brother Nuri, Brother Footie, Brother Sticks, you speak to them, they will tell you that we take it hard too, but we do understand the nature of how the street works. Sometimes we are only delaying the inevitable, because of lifestyle that they live.”