Chester’s Last Week as Commissioner of Police?

In an interview today, Williams confirmed that this might be his last week as Commissioner of Police. He shared his plans to revamp the Transport Department and enforce stricter road safety laws in Belize. Minister of Home Affairs Kareem Musa also weighed in, noting that Williams’ departure might temporarily affect the department’s media relations.

 

Reporter

“So Friday will be your last day in the Commissioner’s office?”

 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“ I’m hoping that it is going to be my last day. I’m excited about moving over to the Ministry of Transport, Constitutional Reform, indigenous People Affairs, and Religion of Affairs. It is going to be a new challenge for me and I’m the type of person from the time I know myself growing up, I have always embraced challenges and I always ensure that whatever task is given to me, that I do it to the best of my ability that I develop a passion and love for it. And I do believe that once that is done, then you are going to be successful at whatever task. And so I am grateful to the Prime Minister for the opportunity being given to me to move over to that ministry and I assure him that I will do my utmost best, making sure that we improve road safety in particular in this country.”

 

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs

“I work very closely with the commissioner, with the deputies of our department, with the assistant commissioners of our department. I have a good relationship with all of them. In my opinion, it’s going to be a smooth transition. Yes. You might say to yourself that you will not have the level of relationship that the media has with the Commissioner of Police because I think that the future commissioner is a lot more reserved, so to speak. And so perhaps we would need to fill the void because this is by far the most transparent commissioner. But we need to continue to fill that void to make sure the media gets the information that it needs each and every day. And so filling that void perhaps with a public relations officer, I don’t think anybody could have done a better job than the commissioner in terms of representing what is taking place within our department and the crime statistics. And so moving forward you could see greater. Involvement of other personnel an academic, as you said, Dr. Rosado and greater strategy. Not that this commissioner didn’t have great strategy. We have everything. Yes, we have all the results to prove it, so it’ll be a continuation of the good strategy that our commissioner has put in place.“