A New Fleet of Vehicles in the Fight against Crime

With thirty-one new Wingle pickups added to its existing convoy of vehicles, will the presence of more police officers in the streets of the country make the Belizean citizenry feel any safer?  It is the hope of the Belize Police Department that not only will the vehicles serve their time, but that their use will make its response time a lot faster.  News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

The Belize Police Department has expanded its fleet of vehicles by an additional thirty-one pickup trucks, to be used in conducting mobile patrols in jurisdictions across the country.  The expansion comes at a staggering one point three million Belize dollars from the coffers of the Ministry of National Security.

Chester Williams

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“Our minister has been very instrumental and our C.E.O. in lobbying with the government to see what could be done to upgrade or to improve the police fleet.  We know that the different stations across the country have been complaining about the shortage of vehicles to be able to respond to the public calls and it was through that effort that the minister and the C.E.O. found a way as to how we can use our budget, our annual budget to be able to procure these vehicles to enhance the police‘s vehicle fleet.”

Isani Cayetano

“Perhaps the biggest concern here is the wear and tear and the responsibility of the care that goes into the upkeep of these vehicles.  Any means of assuring that these vehicles don‘t just go down the drain as perhaps other resources?”

Chester Williams

“Well, most naturally yes, as I‘ve said in my presentation earlier, that the officers who are tasked to use these vehicles on a daily basis, that they are to ensure that the vehicle is used for the purpose for which it has been acquired and most importantly to ensure that the vehicles are serviced on time and that there is no negligence or abuse in the use of these vehicles and once that is done I believe that the vehicles will be able to last the lifetime.”

According to Minister John Saldivar, who heads the national security portfolio, finding the money took resourcefulness, but the onus is on the officers to ensure the upkeep of the vehicles.

John Saldivar

John Saldivar, Minister of National Security

“Within the confines of the budget allocation given to us by the Ministry of Finance, we are able to be creative, find a creative way and working along with the private sector, as the commissioner has alluded to, to make that budget suffice that we are able to get these new vehicles and hopefully from this lesson learned we will be able to continuously replenish our fleet along with our private sector collaborators to ensure that we try as much as possible to keep the fleet of vehicles as new as possible and as maintenance free in terms of having to do, repairs free I should say, as repair-free as possible so that we can keep a sensible amount of vehicles in good working condition.”

Aside from the expected length of time these vehicles will be in use, their presence on the ground should drastically increase the police’s response time to complaints being made by the public.

Chester Williams

“I do believe that the lifespan of vehicles within the police department should be a minimum of three years, minimum of three years and we want to ensure that these vehicles last that minimum of three years.  They can go beyond three years and we wish it could go beyond three years, but that can only be realized if we ensure that we take proper care of them.  While we listen to the cry of the Belizean people across the country, one of the major concerns is the police‘s inability to respond to their complaints in a timely manner.  I am certain that these vehicles will aid us to be able to respond to the public concerns and to offer that level of citizen security that we are chartered to do by the Belize constitution.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.