Police Restore Media Relations with Conditions

The logjam between the Belize Police Department and the media has been broken.  This morning, representatives of various media houses met with Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie and four jurisdictional commanders.  The meeting came after several weeks of a boycott instituted by the media when communications, as well as the free flow of information, ground to a virtual standstill.  While the impasse has been suspended, a number of agreements were struck, including the ComPol’s role in the approval of interviews granted to reporters.  A new media policy which will come into effect on April first was agreed upon by both parties following a revision of the proposed document.  Of note is that a four-week time frame has been also been implemented to test a new model which is to be spearheaded by Assistant Commissioner of Police Chester Williams.  The meeting this morning lasted for two hours, after which there was an amicable agreement to move forward with our collective responsibilities to the public.