Dismal Turnout for Police Association Elections

Sgt. Jermaine Hyde

Voter turnout during Thursday’s election for a new executive of the Police Association of Belize was rather dismal.  There are approximately two thousand men and women enlisted in the Belize Police Department, but less than a third of all eligible officers actually participated in the vote.  While the poor turnout is being attributed to late notice on the part of the Welfare Department, president-elect Jermaine Hyde says that the lackluster showing does not reflect a lack of confidence in the association’s ability to look after the welfare of its membership.

Sgt. Jermaine Hyde, President-elect, Police Association

“First of all, I’d like to say thanks to the members of the association who came out and voted, thanks for the support.  During the election yesterday, seven of the members that were on my slate were victorious, myself, Sgt. 209 J. Hyde, Mr. Gilbert Martinez, Sgt. William Usher, Cpl. Reina Mendoza, Cpl. Shelene Myers, Cpl. Pedro Romero and Mr. Mendoza who is here with me.”

Reporter

“Yesterday, you shared that you expected that the turnout was going to be low, what are the numbers showing now?”

Sgt. Jermaine Hyde

“It was low, we had about six hundred and six persons who came out and voted, out of a possible two thousand, four hundred.  So the showing was low but like I said, that was expected because a lot of police officers are presently infected with COVID-19 and due to the COVID-19 restrictions some may not have wanted to come out and vote. So that did play a role in terms of the numbers. To say that the ComPol mischievously announced the date late is an opinion.  I won’t say that, but yes, the election was announced a little bit late but it is the welfare office that announced the date late, not the commissioner…  The second, in terms of people losing faith in the association, if you watch the numbers, six hundred and six persons turned out and voted, and out of that six hundred and six police officers that came out and voted, we got about ninety percent.  So I am saying that out of those who turned out and voted, they are confident in the association.  Like I said, there are a lot of factors that may have hindered people from coming out and vote, but at the end of the day I believe that we still have the confidence of our members.”