All Officers Conference to Refocus on Crime-Fighting Strategy
Today, the Belize Police Department held its officer’s conference at the National Police Training Academy in Belmopan. It is held to chart the way forward for the department and the policing strategy going into the New Year. It’s a time used to refocus and News Five’s Duane Moody was allowed to attend, even if only briefly for the preliminary part of the presentations. Here’s his report.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Senior officers within the Belize Police Department, from the rank of inspector up to Commissioner of Police, gathered along with their political leaders, Minister of Home Affairs Kareem Musa and C.E.O. Kevin Arthurs to discuss the crime fighting strategy for the year 2023. The All Officers Conference is an all day event.
Bart Jones
DCP Bart Jones, Commander, Research, Planning Legal Affairs & Compliance Branch
“The last time we had one was in 2019. It is where the commissioner takes the opportunity to refocus, if you will, or address some of the issues that might be affecting the department from the management level so that they go back and implement whatever is discussed today to the rank and file of the department.”
Duane Moody
“So the takeaways?”
DCP Bart Jones
“The takeaway is that officers will be in a better position to know where we are and where we want to go especially winding down into this year and going into 2023. So it is like a focused direction kind of meeting.”
It was also an opportunity to look at what is working and where improvements need to be made in the way the department interfaces with various stakeholders and neighbourhood leaders. Leadership Invention Unit Director William Dawson made a presentation on the successful year.
William Dawson
William Dawson, Director, Leadership Intervention Unit
“Working with the communities, working with the police and getting that support is very key to the success of the program and we’ve seen where the police department has allowed the stakeholders to host the interventions and interact with neighbourhood leaders, bringing them to the table to discuss what some of their issues are. Like I mentioned earlier, we’ve been able to ascertain that a lot of what we’ve seen so far amongst the guys are a lack of emotional intelligence, coming to the table to express themselves as male. And we believe that the culture of masculinity in Belize has to change and the conversation begins with these so-called gang members who we have seen had issues expressing themselves emotionally and use violent means to approach every situation they are faced with. And so it is going well and we appreciate the efforts of the police department. We have the commitment of the Minister of Police, Minister Kareem Musa, the ComPol, Doctor Rosado and many senior officers as we go forward and we really appreciate that because we are trying to close the gap even more between the police and the community.”
Deputy Commissioner of Police Bart Jones says that the key is the multisectoral approach to addressing crime and violence in the country.
DCP Bart Jones
“The problems that the department faces continue to be the issue of crime and murders – it’s one of the key areas of concern because as the commissioner always says, any life lost is one too much. And so the crime statistics is certainly a focus, but generally, we believe that we are doing well as a department and it is just for us to refocus, test and adjust our policy as we go into 2023.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
