New Police Outposts in Armenia, Valley of Peace

Today, Belmopan police delivered their version of a Christmas gift to residents of the villages of Armenia and Valley of Peace in the Cayo District. The villages are respectively the northern and southernmost points covered by Police in that formation and according to Commander, Senior Superintendent Howell Gillett, this eliminates the lengthy response time by his men to crimes in those areas.

Howell Gillett

Sr. Supt. Howell Gillett, O.C. Belmopan Police

“What we have seen in the past is that we now have a specific time when crimes occur in that area – I won’t say the timing – but we will have officers, during those peak hours, what we consider peak hours, the station will be open [today] to the public and police officers will be posted there. In addition to that, what we did a few weeks ago; we opened a portion of a station in Valley of Peace, but there was need for improvements to the other half of the station and that is also completed. It’s a well-built infrastructural development and [today] we will be opening that other section of the police station in Valley of Peace. The response time to Valley of Peace was some twenty-five minutes; that’s not good for the public, it does not bring the public any closer to the police, so we saw the need for that, and the response time to Armenia was approximately fifteen minutes. So police officers will now be on the ground at all those locations that I mentioned just a few moments ago.”

In addition to the main Police headquarters and station serving Belmopan, outposts are already established in the Cohune Walk and San Martin sections of the capital. Police are also planning new outposts in the Teakettle and Ontario area out west, and further east to cover Cotton Tree, St. Matthew’s, More Tomorrow and Harmonyville.