B.P.D. Receives 500 Bulletproof Vests

Earlier this month, police officer Osbourne Martinez was fatally shot while responding to a robbery in progress at Belcove Hotel in downtown Belize City. Following his death, many questioned the police department’s commitment to adequately equip police officers who would respond to these types of crimes. Today, Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie happily announced that the department is in receipt of five hundred ballistic vests which will be distributed to officers countrywide. News Five’s Hipolito Novelo reports.

Hipolito Novelo, Reporting

Five hundred bulletproof vests were donated to the Belize Police Department by the Miami Dade Police Department which worked with the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police to make the donation possible. The donation was announced this morning by Commissioner of Police, Allen Whylie. The pre-owned ballistic proof vests will be distributed to law enforcement officers countrywide.

Allen Whylie

Allen Whylie, Commissioner of Police

“This donation it will be cataloged. It will be distributed again to operational officers as well as all our first responders in all the precincts in Belize district as well as countrywide to all the different police formations. So I just wanted as I said to place on record my appreciated to the Miami Dade Police, their chief of police and the ACCP.”

The donation comes at a timely manner- just recently twenty-seven-year-old P.C. Osbourne Martinez was killed in the line of duty. He was fatally shot while he was responding to a robbery in progress in downtown Belize City on November second.

Allen Whylie

“This donation will definitely contribute to the safety and security of our officers herein Belize. It is significant. We are still in need of more. We are going to purchase some more but we will continue as much as possible to ensure our officers are equipped with these vests, that they ar able to go out there and perform their duty without fear and with a  high degree of professionalism.”

While the vests are pre-owned, they are fully functional.

Allen Whylie

“We have demonstrated, and Mr. Caliz can speak more on that, he has already demonstrated that they are still functional because they can stop whatever bullets maybe aimed at our direction. So it is better that the officers are equipped with those than having none at all. I don’t have the actual value but I can tell you that it’s significant because a new vest, depending on the brand, ranges between four to seven hundred US dollars. While I have not gotten the value, I can tell you that they took care of shipping it for us also.”

This is the second batch of bulletproof vests that has been donated to the department by the Miami Dade Police Department. In 2017, two hundred vests were received by the department through the same partnership. Reporting for News Five, I am Hipolito Novelo.