Dismissed police recruit seeks reinstatement
He was the victim of a shooting incident inside the bathroom of a discotheque last year and now on the eve of his graduation into the ranks of the police department, Joseph Nunez was instead given his walking papers. Citing incompletion of basic training and possible diminished physical ability as a result of the shooting, Commandant of the Police Training Academy, Assistant Superintendent Elodio Aragon, relieved Nunez of his status as a police recruit, preventing him from taking his place alongside his peers at next Friday’s graduation. This afternoon, the disgruntled ex-police recruit stopped by our studios to make his case for reinstatement.
Joseph Nunez, Former Police Recruit
?Personally I believe that Mr. Aragon has some personal agenda against me. I noh know dah what. Because I done explain to them already that how I was shot innocently. But when I tell him that he want to know how that could happen to me.?
?I done do five months of training already, right. If Mr. Aragon or Mr. Zetina would put themselves in my shoes, come on, you done do five months of training already and you know that how you deserve to pass out and you know that you noh do nothing wrong. I noh see why I can?t pass out with this squad.?
Patrick Jones
?The Commandant claims that your injury has rendered you unable to fully use your arm??
Joseph Nunez
?Well as you can see, right, you see my hand, this hand right here so. See it here, I get shot right here so. The bullet gone right through the back here. I just got one scar. And my hand could fully function like that. I got feelings everything. When I first talked to the commissioner he distinctly said that once I could bring a report form the doctor stating that how I am physically fit, I could a mi go back dah training. Now I carry the letter, for the past two, three week, I deh dah Belmopan, up and down, up and down. The Prime Minister he personally call them two times and tell them he noh see why they noh just reinstate Mr. Nunez and done. But I no h know weh the go one with the commissioner of police.?
?All weh I want dah just mek I pass out next week Friday, come Friday mek I pass out with that crowd, and after that, you know, everything would just set back. Because all I miss out dah only firearms and first aid. And I no see why they want me to go back to training school for another six months for [missing] only two weeks.?
But that’s just what Nunez will have to do if he wants to be a cop. When contacted by telephone, ASP Aragon told News Five that the two modules which Nunez missed are critical elements of police training and that it would put him at a distinct disadvantage at this time to be allowed to pass out without having received that crucial instruction. Aragon did say, however, that the department is not totally shutting the door on Nunez and that not only is he is free to redo training in the future, but depending on his physical ability at that time, may be eligible for special consideration. Recruit Squad eighty-one, comprising eleven women and sixty nine men, will pass out during ceremonies on January twenty-eighth at the Police Training Academy in Belmopan.
