Domestic Violence Unit Renamed. New Approach to Policing

The Belize Police Department’s decision to rename the Domestic Violence Unit has sparked some controversy. Today, Commissioner of Police Williams addressed the criticism, noting that some people believe the new name, Gender-Based Violence Response and Investigative Unit, panders to the LGBTQ+ community. Williams emphasized that the police are committed to protecting everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other differences.

 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“We have had  the domestic violence unit in place for quite a number of years now and with the  evolving of time, we saw the need to change the name from domestic violence unit domestic violence to gender based violence response and investigation unit. At the end of the day we have to look beyond he domestic issue in terms of what happens in a home between a man woman and child And see how we can encapsulate those other factors where gender violence is concerned and so the unit is now going to be tasked with that responsibility of making sure that we can capture everybody at the end of the day, as a police organization, we cannot discriminate. I know that there are some school of thought out there who are already spewing some of their own agenda, that this is being done with a view to accommodate the LGBTQ, whatever it may be. But, at the end of the day, we have to understand that whether a person is straight, bisexual, heterosexual, or whatever. We as a department must represent them. We cannot tell people that because you’re this, we cannot represent you. We are an organization that is created with the intent to make sure we protect everybody regardless of your race, color, culture, creed, sexual orientation as the case may be. So we are extremely proud of the move that we are making now to ensure that we have a progressive unit within our department to be able to address these issues, all forms of gender, gender based violence in Belize.”