Joseph Camp Asks Kareem Musa to Investigate Police Department 

U.S. citizen Joseph Camp has written to Minister of Home Affairs and New Growth Industries, Kareem Musa to request an investigation on the actions of the Belize Police Department’s Commissioner, Chester Williams and another member of the department. Following this letter, he has also written to Director of Public Prosecutions, Cheryl-Lynn Vidal, seeking a prosecutorial inquiry into the actions of the department. Last month, thirty-nine-year-old U.S. citizen, Joseph Camp ran into trouble with the department after he took to social media to air his grievances about a shooting incident his family member was allegedly involved in. Camp was charged spreading false news for information he shared during a Facebook livestream on the night of the shooting. He pleaded guilty to this charge and was ordered to pay a fine of six hundred Belize dollars, however, on April twenty-third, Camp wrote Belize’s Governor General Dame Froyla Tzalam, asking for a pardon for the offense. In the letter to the Governor General, Camp said that while he accepts full responsibility for his actions and understands the gravity of the situation, the information he spread had been provided to him by a Belize police detective. In his letter to Musa, Camp wrote, “on the days following the events Clyde Chester Williams, in his capacity as Commissioner of Belize Police Department, seemingly endorsed actions that led to, quote, the suppression of my freedom of expression and freedom to be free from inhuman and degrading treatment as guaranteed under the Belize Constitution. This suppression and treatment occurred in conjunction with an unprovoked physical assault on my in-laws and I by an unidentified officer. These actions took place without any provocation from our side, thus exacerbating the already distressing situation surrounding my brother-in-law”.  He ended his letter by requesting the immediate suspension of Commissioner Williams and officers involved in the incident, pending the outcome of the investigation. When asked about the letter, DPP Videl told us that the constitution does not grant her the power to investigate criminal offenses. Camp has said that he has written to the United States State Department and U.S. Embassy in Belize about the incident.